Synthesis of Mo2C and W2C Nanoparticle Electrocatalysts for the Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Alkali and Acid Electrolytes

Abstract

The synthesis of low cost, high efficacy, and durable hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts from the non-noble metal group is a major challenge. Herein, we establish a simple and inexpensive chemical reduction method for producing molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) and tungsten carbide (W2C) nanoparticles that are efficient electrocatalysts in alkali and acid electrolytes for hydrogen evolution reactions (HER). Mo2C exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic behavior with an overpotential of −134 mV in acid medium and of −116 mV in alkaline medium, while W2C nanoparticles require an overpotential of −173 mV in acidic medium and −130 mV in alkaline medium to attain a current density of 10 mA cm−2. The observed results prove the capability of high- and low-pH active electrocatalysts of Mo2C and W2C nanoparticles to be efficient systems for hydrogen production through HER water electrolysis.

One-Pot Synthesis of W2C/WS2 Hybrid Nanostructures for Improved Hydrogen Evolution Reactions and Supercapacitors

“…The reported simple chemical reduction route was employed to produce the W 2 C nanoparticles [ 18 ]. Briefly, 1 g of commercial W 2 C powder was dispersed in the ethanol solution (50 mL), with stirring for 3 h, at room temperature.…”

“…Lastly, the synthesized powder was sulfurized, using CVD tubular furnace using argon (Ar) carrier gas at 600 °C for 120 min. The reported simple chemical reduction route was employed to produce the W2C nanoparticles [18]. Briefly, 1 g of commercial W2C powder was dispersed in the ethanol solution (50 mL), with stirring for 3 h, at room temperature.…”

“…Carbonaceous materials (graphene or CNT) and transition metal carbides (TMCs) are suitable partner materials for hybridization. TMCs, such as Mo 2 C and W 2 C, which are newer than graphene and CNT, could be useful electrodes for supercapacitors and HER [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]; however, their performance was not widely appealing. The previous reported hybrid materials are MoSe 2 /Mo 2 C [ 9 ], WS 2 /reduced graphene oxide hybrids [ 14 , 19 ], MoS 2 /Ti 3 C 2 T x hybrid [ 20 ], MoS 2 /WS 2 /graphene heterostructures [ 21 ], MoS 2 /Mo 2 C hybrid nanosheets [ 22 ], WS (1-x) Se x decorated 3D graphene [ 12 ], graphene supported lamellar 1T′-MoTe 2 [ 23 ], and MoS 2 /reclaimed carbon fiber [ 24 ].…”

Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Triggered by Co2xMo1-xS2 (x = 0. 0.05 and 0.1) in Acidic Medium

“…Several non-noble metal materials, such as transitionmetal chalcogenides [4][5][6][7], carbides [8][9][10], phosphides [11,12], nitrides [13][14][15] and oxides [16][17][18][19][20] are currently been tested as electrocatalyst for HER. 2D-chalcogenides have gained a wide range of attention among all the other new forms of electrocatalyst due to its amazing chemical and physical properties similar to graphene [21,22].…”

Facile Synthesis of Cobalt Oxide as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…Because of their Pt-like catalytic behaviors for HER, well electrocatalysts originated from the most abundant elements (Co, Fe, Mo, Ni, Ti, W, and so on) has experienced rapid development over the past decade (Jung et al, 2014;Kuznetsov et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2020). Scientists design and develop various catalysts including transition metal oxides (CoO, Fe 3 O 4 , MoO 2 , TiO 2 , WO 2 ) (Park and Kolpak, 2019;Protsenko et al, 2019;Qian et al, 2019;Li L. et al, 2020;Li S. et al, 2020), metal sulfides (CoS, CuS, FeS 2 , MoS 2 , NiS 2 , V 3 S 4 , WS 2 ) (Li et al, 2018;Shi et al, 2019;Singh et al, 2019;Cao et al, 2020;Hao et al, 2020;Thangasamy et al, 2020), metal carbides (MoC 2 , WC) (Ji et al, 2018;Hussain et al, 2019), metal phosphides (CoP, NiP, FeP, WP, MoP) (Ojha et al, 2017;Zhang C. et al, 2018;Wang P. et al, 2019;Ji et al, 2020;Lin et al, 2020), metal selenides (CoSe 2 , MoSe 2 , NiSe 2 , WSe 2 ) (Wang et al, 2012(Wang et al, , 2020Chen et al, 2020;Nam et al, 2020) and metal boron (Huang et al, 2019;.…”