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A durable and pH-universal self-standing MoC-Mo2C heterojunction electrode for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Abstract

Efficient water electrolyzers are constrained by the lack of low-cost and earth-abundant hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts that can operate at industry-level conditions and be prepared with a facile process. Here we report a self-standing MoC-Mo2C catalytic electrode prepared via a one-step electro-carbiding approach using CO2 as the feedstock. The outstanding HER performances of the MoC-Mo2C electrode with low overpotentials at 500 mA cm-2 in both acidic (256 mV) and alkaline electrolytes (292 mV), long-lasting lifetime of over 2400 h (100 d), and high-temperature performance (70 oC) are due to the self-standing hydrophilic porous surface, intrinsic mechanical strength and self-grown MoC (001)-Mo2C (101) heterojunctions that have a ΔGH* value of -0.13 eV in acidic condition, and the energy barrier of 1.15 eV for water dissociation in alkaline solution. The preparation of a large electrode (3 cm × 11.5 cm) demonstrates the possibility of scaling up this process to prepare various carbide electrodes with rationally designed structures, tunable compositions, and favorable properties.

Description

Keywords

3403 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, 34 Chemical Sciences, 40 Engineering, 4016 Materials Engineering, 4018 Nanotechnology, 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Journal Title

Nat Commun

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

12

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) (52031008, 51874211)