TY - JOUR
T1 - Structure and Phase Regulation in MoxC (α-MoC1-x/β-Mo2C) to Enhance Hydrogen Evolution
AU - Zhang, Xiangyong
AU - Wang, Junchao
AU - Guo, Ting
AU - Liu, Tianying
AU - Wu, Zhuangzhi
AU - Cavallo, Luigi
AU - Cao, Zhen
AU - Wang, Dezhi
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-02-11
Acknowledgements: Financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51572301), National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFB0306000), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grants 2016JJ3153) and the Innovation-Driven Project of Central South University (Grants 502221802) are gratefully acknowledged. The computational simulations were performed using the KAUST super computing resources.
PY - 2019/1/30
Y1 - 2019/1/30
N2 - Non-precious metal-based efficient electrocatalysts with superior activity and stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are useful in solving energy and environmental crises. Herein, monodisperse inverse opal-like MoxC (α-MoC1-x/β-Mo2C) nanospheres were synthesized via a facile strategy to adjust the intrinsic activity and maximize the exposed active sites. In particular, the MoxC-0.4 with the optimal composition of α-MoC1-x/β-Mo2C (0.56/0.44) demonstrated a superior HER performance in 0.5 M H2SO4 with a small Tafel slope of 48 mV dec-1 and remarkable stability. Such prominent performance not only benefits from the inverse opal-like structure that provides more active sites for HER, but also should be ascribed to the strong synergistic effect between α-MoC1-x and β-Mo2C. Based on theoretical calculations, it is further verified that the synergistic effect of MoxC-0.4 is originated from the optimization of interaction with the H* induced by the heterostructure. Furthermore, this work will broaden our vision for highly efficient hydrogen production by bridging the microscopic structure with macroscopic catalytic performance.
AB - Non-precious metal-based efficient electrocatalysts with superior activity and stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are useful in solving energy and environmental crises. Herein, monodisperse inverse opal-like MoxC (α-MoC1-x/β-Mo2C) nanospheres were synthesized via a facile strategy to adjust the intrinsic activity and maximize the exposed active sites. In particular, the MoxC-0.4 with the optimal composition of α-MoC1-x/β-Mo2C (0.56/0.44) demonstrated a superior HER performance in 0.5 M H2SO4 with a small Tafel slope of 48 mV dec-1 and remarkable stability. Such prominent performance not only benefits from the inverse opal-like structure that provides more active sites for HER, but also should be ascribed to the strong synergistic effect between α-MoC1-x and β-Mo2C. Based on theoretical calculations, it is further verified that the synergistic effect of MoxC-0.4 is originated from the optimization of interaction with the H* induced by the heterostructure. Furthermore, this work will broaden our vision for highly efficient hydrogen production by bridging the microscopic structure with macroscopic catalytic performance.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/631012
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926337319300967?via%3Dihub
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061027814&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.apcatb.2019.01.086
DO - 10.1016/j.apcatb.2019.01.086
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85061027814
VL - 247
SP - 78
EP - 85
JO - Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
JF - Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
SN - 0926-3373
ER -
