Electrocatalytic Activity of the Brewer Intermetallic Phases Mo₆Co₇, W₆Co₇, and W₆Fe₇ for Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution Reactions

Abstract

In pursuit of understanding the electrocatalytic activity trends within Brewer intermetallic phases comprising early and later transition metals, we synthesized three binary crystalline intermetallics, namely, Mo 6 Co 7 , W 6 Co 7 , and W 6 Fe 7 . The intermetallics exhibit an activity trend of Mo 6 Co 7 > W 6 Co 7 > W 6 Fe 7 for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in electrochemical water splitting. The Mo 6 Co 7 demonstrates stable electrocatalytic activity over 24 h under a high current density of 80 mA cm −2 in HER, which highlights its potential as a robust electrocatalyst for hydrogen production. Our observations strongly suggest that the electrocatalytic performance is predominantly governed by intrinsic catalytic active metal sites within the Mo 6 Co 7 structure. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that for HER, the later transition metals such as Co and Fe are more active than the early transition metals of Mo and W, reflecting the activity order of Co > Mo > W and Co > Fe. The density of states (DOS) diagram indicates that Mo 6 Co 7 exhibits the highest charge density at the Fermi level, surpassing both W 6 Co 7 and W 6 Fe 7 . In terms of the rate-determining step (RDS) for the OER, the calculated overpotentials align with an activity trend observed in experiments, where Mo 6 Co 7 demonstrates greater activity compared to W 6 Co 7 and W 6 Fe 7 . Our results provide a foundation for tailoring intermetallics to optimize electrocatalytic efficiency, stability, and activity for HER and OER in water splitting.