Confined growth of pyridinic N–Mo2C sites on MXenes for hydrogen evolution

Developing low-cost and high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts is a key research area for scalable hydrogen production from water electrolysis. Here, a hybrid of nitrogen-doped carbon encapsulated Mo2C nanodots on Ti3C2Tx MXene (Mo2C/Ti3C2Tx@NC) is developed through in s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2020-01, Vol.8 (15), p.7109-7116
Main Authors: Wang, Hao, Lin, Yanping, Liu, Shuyuan, Li, Jianmin, Bu, Liangmin, Chen, Jianmei, Xu, Xiao, Jin-Ho, Choi, Gao, Lijun, Jong-Min, Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acidic oxides
Carbon
Charge transfer
Dopamine
Electrocatalysts
Electrolysis
Hydrogen
Hydrogen evolution reactions
Hydrogen production
MXenes
Nitrogen
Oxidation
Polymerization
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Developing low-cost and high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts is a key research area for scalable hydrogen production from water electrolysis. Here, a hybrid of nitrogen-doped carbon encapsulated Mo2C nanodots on Ti3C2Tx MXene (Mo2C/Ti3C2Tx@NC) is developed through in situ polymerization of dopamine and a Mo precursor on the Ti3C2Tx MXene surface. During the annealing treatment, the polydopamine plays multiple roles in forming N-doped carbon, confining MoO42− ions into ultrasmall Mo2C nanodots, and stabilizing the MXene flakes against spontaneous oxidation. The as-synthesized hybrid exhibits excellent HER activity in acidic electrolyte with an overpotential of 53 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and excellent stability over 30 hours. The combination of experiments and simulations demonstrates that pyridinic N-doped carbon coated Mo2C nanodots serve as the active sites and Ti3C2Tx MXene facilitates the charge transfer, synergistically contributing to the superior HER performance.
ISSN:2050-7488
2050-7496
DOI:10.1039/d0ta01697g