Synthesis of Porous Mo ₂ C/Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanocomposites for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Abstract Transition metal carbides are considered to be promising non‐precious catalysts for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) because of their similar electronic structures to platinum‐based materials. In this work, we report the synthesis of porous nanocomposites consisting of β ‐Mo 2 C nanoparticles supported on nitrogen‐doped carbon (NC) for efficient HER in both acidic and alkaline conditions. It is revealed that compared to the counterpart prepared through a one‐step annealing, the two‐step carbonization product (Mo 2 C/NC‐2) not only owns more catalytic active Mo 2 C sites on the surface, but also has electron interaction between Mo 2 C and NC. As a consequence, Mo 2 C/NC‐2 provides a geometric catalytic current density of −10 mA cm −2 at overpotentials of 169 mV and 180 mV vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and Tafel slopes of 55 and 60 mV dec −1 in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 and 1 M KOH, respectively. This study provides valuable insights into the preparation of transition metal carbides with modulated surface structure and remarkable electrocatalytic activity for HER.