Huang, Jiajia, Wang, Jingyi, Xie, Ruikuan , Tian, Zhihong, Chai, Guoliang, Zhang, Yanwu, Lai, Feili, He, Guanjie, Liu, Chuntai, Liu, Tianxi, Shearing, Paul R. and Brett, Dan J. L. (2020) A universal pH range and a highly efficient Mo2C-based electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8 (38). pp. 19879-19886. ISSN 2050-7488
Full content URL: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA07091B
Documents |
|
|
PDF
d0ta07091b.pdf - Whole Document Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. 987kB |
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Item Status: | Live Archive |
Abstract
Electrochemical water splitting is a promising approach to generate ‘green’ hydrogen. The efficiency of this process relies on the effectiveness of the electrocatalysts used. The electro-kinetics of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly pH dependent and conventional catalysts typically are expensive and rare platinum-based materials. The development of low-cost, multi-component electrocatalysts, where each of the components has a synergistic effect, can be an effective approach to improve kinetics. Herein, a series of transition metal (Fe, Mn, Co, and Ni)-modified molybdenum carbides in a nitrogen-doped carbon matrix (TM-Mo2C@NCF) are synthesised to maximise exposed active sites. Among them, Fe-Mo2C@NCF delivers the best-in-class HER performance over a wide range of electrolytes. Tafel slopes of 76, 109 and 110 mV dec−1 and overpotentials of 65, 130 and 129 mV at 10 mA cm−2 were obtained in 1.0 M KOH, 1.0 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and 0.5 M H2SO4, respectively. The computational study further indicates that the synergistic electronic modulation co-activated by Fe and N dopants in Fe-Mo2C@NCF can reduce the Gibbs free energy of H adsorption (ΔGH*) and render the Mo–Mo bridge site the most energetically favorable adsorption site for the H* intermediate, which contributes to an increased HER performance.
Subjects: | F Physical Sciences > F200 Materials Science F Physical Sciences > F161 Organometallic Chemistry F Physical Sciences > F100 Chemistry |
---|---|
Divisions: | College of Science > School of Chemistry |
ID Code: | 43121 |
Deposited On: | 25 Nov 2020 13:56 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page