Ni Strongly Coupled with Mo₂C Encapsulated in Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanofibers as Robust Bifunctional Catalyst for Overall Water Splitting

Abstract

Abstract It is urgently required to develop highly efficient and stable bifunctional non‐noble metal electrocatalysts for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for water splitting. In this study, a facile electrospinning followed by a post‐carbonization treatment to synthesize nitrogen‐doped carbon nanofibers (NCNFs) integrated with Ni and Mo 2 C nanoparticles (Ni/Mo 2 C‐NCNFs) as water splitting electrocatalysts is developed. Owing to the strong hydrogen binding energy on Mo 2 C and high electrical conductivity of Ni, synergetic effect between Ni and Mo 2 C nanoparticles significantly promote both HER and OER activities. The optimized hybrid (Ni/Mo 2 C(1:2)‐NCNFs) delivers low overpotentials of 143 mV for HER and 288 mV for OER at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 . An alkaline electrolyzer with Ni/Mo 2 C(1:2)‐NCNFs as catalysts for both anode and cathode exhibits a current density of 10 mA cm −2 at a voltage of 1.64 V, which is only 0.07 V larger than the benchmark of Pt/C‐RuO 2 electrodes. In addition, an outstanding long‐term durability during 100 h testing without obvious degradation is achieved, which is superior to most of the noble‐metal‐free electrocatalysts reported to date. This work provides a simple and effective approach for the preparation of low‐cost and high‐performance bifunctional electrocatalysts for efficient overall water splitting.