Ultrafine α‐Phase Molybdenum Carbide Decorated with Platinum Nanoparticles for Efficient Hydrogen Production in Acidic and Alkaline Media

Abstract

The development of efficient electrocatalysts is important to produce clean and sustainable hydrogen fuel on a large scale. With respect to cathodic reactions, Pt exhibits an overwhelming electrocatalytic capability in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in comparison with other earth‐abundant electrocatalysts, despite its rarity and high cost. So, a hybrid catalyst that combines a low‐cost electrocatalyst with Pt would balance cost‐effectiveness with catalytic activity. Herein, α‐phase molybdenum carbide (MoC 1− x ) nanoparticles (NPs) decorated with a small amount of Pt (MoC 1− x /Pt‐NPs) are designed to achieve high‐performance hydrogen production in acidic and alkaline media. MoC 1− x ‐NPs exhibit good electrocatalytic HER activity as well as stability and durability. They show favorable catalytic kinetics in an alkaline medium, suggesting an active water dissociation process. After Pt decoration, Pt‐NPs that are 2–3 nm in diameter are well incorporated with MoC 1− x ‐NPs. MoC 1− x /Pt‐NPs with a small amount of Pt (2.7–3 wt%) and are able to perform superior electrocatalytic HER activity, and possess stability and durability that is comparable to that of commercial Pt/C. Notably, they exhibit a higher intrinsic catalytic activity compared to that of Pt/C in an alkaline medium, indicating that they promote the sluggish catalytic kinetics of Pt in alkaline medium.

Carbon-coated cubic-phase molybdenum carbide nanoparticle for enhanced photocatalytic H2-evolution performance of TiO2

“…283.7 eV is distinctly found in Fig. 1 (e), which can be assigned to the Mo-C bond in cubic MoC [40] . From Fig.…”

“…More importantly, it was reported that cubic MoC clearly has a higher electrical conductivity because the electrical resistivity of cubic MoC (4.9 μ cm at 20 °C) is much lower than that of hexagonal Mo 2 C (97.5 μ cm at 20 °C) [39] . In fact, cubic molybdenum carbide had been demonstrated as an active and stable electrocatalyst for high electrocatalytic H 2 -evolution performance [40] . On the basis of their similar H 2 -evolution mechanism between electrocatalysts and photocatalysts, it is expected that the cubic molybdenum carbide can be functioned as an excellent cocatalyst to enhance the hydrogen-production activity of various photocatalyst.…”

Influence of Elemental Carbon (EC) Coating Covering nc-(Ti,Mo)C Particles on the Microstructure and Properties of Titanium Matrix Composites Prepared by Reactive Spark Plasma Sintering

“…According to the deconvolution results, the Ti 2p spectrum of the composites is dominated by species in the Mo 6+ oxidation state, mainly MoO 3 with the presence of a small contribution of 5 + , 4 + and 2 + . The subcomponents detected by peak fitting at 229.3 eV and at 231.6 eV are attributed to Mo 3d 5/2 of MoO 2 , and of Mo 2 O 5 , respectively [ 43 , 44 , 45 ]. The existence of a noticeable percentage of MoO 2 and Mo 2 O 5 oxides on the surface of the composite together with the Mo 0 phase distinguishes the Ti + 10 wt % (Ti, Mo)C and Ti + 10 wt % (Ti, Mo)C/C composites.…”

Highly active and stable electrocatalytic transition metal phosphides ( Ni 2 P and FeP ) nanoparticles on porous carbon cloth for overall water splitting at high current density

“…The EEW process is a simple top‐down approach without some exquisite conditions for the preparation of metal nanocolloids. Representative advantages of EEW technique are room‐condition synthesis, green chemistry, cost‐effective, and mass‐productive 31 . Details of the EEW process were described in our previous reports 32,33 .…”

“…Representative advantages of EEW technique are roomcondition synthesis, green chemistry, cost-effective, and mass-productive. 31 Details of the EEW process were described in our previous reports. 32,33 Briefly, when the capacitor induces a pulse of high-density current to the metal wire, the wire evaporates immediately because of the high-density energy and then condenses back into a colloidal state in the liquid media.…”