Upraising the O 2p Orbital by Integrating Ni with MoO₂ for Accelerating Hydrogen Evolution Kinetics

Abstract

Unique interfacial properties within heterostructures play vital roles in enhancing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysis. On the basis of the MoO2-Ni heterostructure, we hereby propose an upraised atomic orbital promoted catalytic mechanism for accelerating the HER kinetics. A controllable gradient-pyrolysis approach is adopted on molybdates to integrate Ni with MoO2, possessing numerous phase-separation-induced intimate interfaces. In situ characterizations demonstrate the formation process of MoO2-Ni interfaces and excellent compositional stability under alkaline conditions. The optimized MoO2-Ni catalyst delivers remarkable Pt-like HER activity and good stability with 50 h operation in 1 M KOH. An enhancement of 3 orders of magnitude on the exchange current density is achieved for MoO2-Ni in comparison to the simplex MoO2. Further experimental and theoretical analyses verify the existence of a concentrated surface charge at MoO2-Ni interfaces. Meanwhile, with the incorporation of Ni into MoO2, the most active sites dramatically change from Mo to O atoms at MoO2-Ni interfaces. The Ni contact upraises the O 2p orbital in MoO2, thus strengthening the hydrogen adsorption for enhanced HER kinetics.