Facile in-situ fabrication of nanocoral-like bimetallic Co-Mo carbide/nitrogen-doped carbon: a highly active and stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution

Abstract

It is vital to exploit non-noble metal catalysts with ample natural reserve and high performance for reducing energy consumption during electrocatalytic water splitting process. Herein, nanocoral-like bimetallic Co-Mo carbide/nitrogen-doped carbon (Co-Mo2C/N-C) electrocatalysts have been successfully prepared by high temperature pyrolysis of CoMoO4 and melamine for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). When the mass ratio of CoMoO4 and melamine is 1:15, nanocoral-like Co-Mo2C/N-C electrocatalyst shows optimal electrocatalytic HER activity, which just needs overpotentials of only 212 and 290 mV at the current density of 10 and 40 mA cm−2, respectively. Besides, it shows low charge transfer resistance and surpassing stability for uninterrupted HER in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte. The eximious electrochemical performance of Co-Mo2C/N-C is put down to the fact that N-C can effectively disperse Co-Mo2C nanoparticles. The results suggest that nanocoral-like Co-Mo2C/N-C with considerable catalytic activity and superior durability is believed as promising candidate to substitute noble metal catalysts for green and renewable hydrogen production by electrocatalytic water splitting.