Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous Molybdenum Carbide Nanosheets for Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Electrochemical water splitting is one of the most sustainable methods for industrial hydrogen generation. Nevertheless, the development of low-cost and active electrocatalysts remains far from satisfactory for large-scale commercial electric-driven water splitting, necessitating the investigation of advanced catalysts with superior electrocatalytic performance. Here, we reported flower-like nitrogen-doped molybdenum carbide nanosheets for efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). A well-designed nanostructure and the existence of carbon species achieved numerous exposures to catalytic sites and facilitated charge transfer, which made the catalysts exhibit excellent electrochemical performance compared to commercial molybdenum carbide. Specifically, it catalyzed HER with an overpotential of 116 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm–2 and showed desirable durability in alkaline conditions.