Heterostructured electrocatalysts with multiple active components are expected to synchronously address the two elementary steps in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which require varied hydrogen-binding strength on the catalyst surface. Herein, electrospinning followed by a pyrolysis is introduced to design Fe C-Mo C/nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe C-Mo C/NC) hetero-nanofibers (HNFs) with tunable composition, leading to abundant Fe C-Mo C hetero-interfaces for synergy in electrocatalysis. Owing to the strong hydrogen binding on Mo C and the relatively weak one on Fe C, the hetero-interfaces of Fe C-Mo C remarkably promote HER kinetics and intrinsic activity. Additionally, the loose and porous N-doped carbon matrix, as a result of Fe-catalyzed carbonization, ensures the fast transport of electrolytes and electrons, thus minimizing diffusion limitation. As expected, the optimized Fe C-Mo C/NC HNFs afforded a low overpotential of 116 mV at a current density of -10 mA cm and striking kinetics metrics (onset overpotential: 42 mV, Tafel slope: 43 mV dec ) in 0.5 m H SO , outperforming most recently reported noble-metal-free electrocatalysts.
Invited for this month′s cover is the group of Qingsheng Gao at Jinan University. The image shows the synergistically improved kinetics on Fe3C‐Mo2C hetero‐interfaces for hydrogen evolution, as illustrated by the easily passed hurdles in hurdle race. The Full Paper itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.201700207.
organic chemistry, review organic chemistry, review Z 0200 30 -258 Supported Catalysts. Deposition of Active Component: Impregnation and Ion Exchange -[138 refs.]. -(CHE, M.; CLAUSE, O.; MARCILLY, CH.; Prep. Solid Catal. (1999) 315-340; Lab. React. Surf., Univ. P. et M. Curie, F-75252 Paris, Fr.; EN)
The Cover picture shows a hurdle race with different hurdles corresponding to the varied energy barriers of the hydrogen evolution reaction. In this work, electrospinning followed by pyrolysis is introduced to construct Fe3C‐Mo2C/N‐doped carbon hetero‐nanofibers and accomplish the synergistically enhanced elementary steps, as illustrated by the low hurdles in the runway. Such synergy results in the benchmarking performance of noble‐metal‐free electrocatalysts. This study opens up new opportunities to explore high‐performance catalysts through interfacial engineering. More details can be found in the Full Paper by Lin et al. on page 2597 in Issue 12, 2017 (DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201700207).
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