In Situ Synthesis of MoP Nanoflakes Intercalated N‐Doped Graphene Nanobelts from MoO₃–Amine Hybrid for High‐Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Molybdenum phosphide (MoP) is a promising non-noble-metal electrocatalyst in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but practical implementation is impeded by the sluggish HER kinetics and poor chemical stability. Herein, a novel high-efficiency HER electrocatalyst comprising MoP nanoflakes intercalated nitrogen-doped graphene nanobelts (MoP/NG), which are synthesized by one-step thermal phosphiding organic-inorganic hybrid dodecylamine (DDA) inserted MoO nanobelts, is reported. The intercalated DDA molecules are in situ carbonized into the NG layer and the sandwiched MoO layer is converted into MoP nanoflakes which are intercalated between the NG layers forming the alternatingly stacked MoP/NG hybrid nanobelts. The MoP nanoflakes provide abundant edge sites and the sandwiched MoP/NG hybrid enables rapid ion/electron transport thus yielding excellent electrochemical activity and stability for HER. The MoP/NG shows a low overpotential of 94 mV at 10 mA cm , small Tafel slope of 50.1 mV dec , and excellent electrochemical stability with 99.5% retention for over 22 h.

A highly active and durable electrocatalyst for large current density hydrogen evolution reaction

“…Recently, molybdenum based dichalcogenides [10][11][12][13], carbides [14][15][16] and phosphides [17][18][19][20] have been demonstrated to have excellent HER performance in acidic solution. However, their electrocatalytic activity is unsatisfactory in alkaline solution.…”

One-step microwave-assisted solvothermal nano-manufacturing of Ni2P nanosphere as high-performance supercapacitors

“…This issue inspired the pursuit of new and safe electrode materials with higher capacitance and energy densities, such as metal oxides [6], metal sulfides [7] and metal phosphides [8]. Among of them, transition metal phosphides (TMPs) that compounded transition metal (Fe [9][10][11], Ni [12,13], Co [14,15], Mo [16], and Sn [17]) with elemental P have attracted much attention owing to their excellent electrochemical performance and high chemical stability [9].…”

Rational Design of Atomic Layers of Pt Anchored on Mo2C Nanorods for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution over a Wide pH Range

“…Although platinum group metals, such as platinum at present, are still considered to be the state‐of‐art electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to their highly catalytic activity and stability, their activity highly depends on the mass used and lack of abundance of Pt hinders its large scale commercialization . Therefore, considerable efforts have been focused on developing alternative catalysts to replace Pt or reducing Pt amount required …”

“…Recently, transition metal carbides (TMCs) have been considered as one of the most promising groups of the low‐cost catalysts for HER due to their Pt‐like electronic structure . In addition, TMCs have been proved as a class of catalysts, which are stable in both acidic and alkaline media under HER operation .…”