Universal Strategy to Fabricate a Two-Dimensional Layered Mesoporous Mo₂C Electrocatalyst Hybridized on Graphene Sheets with High Activity and Durability for Hydrogen Generation

Abstract

A universal strategy was developed for fabrication of a highly active and durable precious-metal-free mesoporous Mo2C/graphene (m-Mo2C/G) electrocatalyst with a two-dimensional layered structural feature via a nanocasting method using glucose as a carbon source and an in-stiu assembled mesoporous KIT-6/graphene (KIT-6/G) as a template. The m-Mo2C/G catalyst exhibits high catalytic activity and excellent durability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) over a wide pH range, which displays a small onset potential of 8 mV, owerpotential (η10) for driving a cathodic current density of 10 mA·cm(-2) of 135 mV, a Tafel slope of 58 mV·dec(-1), and an exchange current density of 6.31 × 10(-2) mA·cm(-2) in acidic media and an onset potential of of 41 mV, η10 of 128 mV, Tafel slope of 56 mV·dec(-1), and an exchange current density of 4.09 × 10(-2) mA·cm(-2) in alkaline media, respectively. Furthermore, such an m-Mo2C/G electrocatalyst also gives about 100% Faradaic yield and shows excellent durability during 3000 cycles of a long-term test, and the catalytic current remains stable over 20 h at fixed overpotentials, making it a great potential application prospect for energy issues.