Design of a long-lived Mo2C-MoO2@GC-N electrocatalyst by the ambient DC arc plasma for the hydrogen evolution reaction
Marian Chufarov,
Yuliya Z. Vassilyeva,
Xinyu Zhang,
Shilin Li,
Alexander Y. Pak,
Wei Han
Affiliations
Marian Chufarov
College of Physics, the State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, International Center of Future Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Yuliya Z. Vassilyeva
College of Physics, the State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, International Center of Future Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China; Laboratory of Advanced Materials for Energy Industry, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk 634050, Russian Federation
Xinyu Zhang
Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Corresponding author
Shilin Li
College of Physics, the State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, International Center of Future Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Alexander Y. Pak
Laboratory of Advanced Materials for Energy Industry, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk 634050, Russian Federation; Corresponding author
Wei Han
College of Physics, the State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, International Center of Future Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China; Corresponding author
Summary: A crucial challenge in hydrogen production through electrolysis is developing inexpensive, earth-abundant, and highly efficient Pt-free electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Molybdenum carbide is ideal for this application because of its special electrical structure, low cost, and advantageous characteristics. Herein, the long-lived electrocatalysts for HER have been synthesized via the direct current (DC) arc discharge plasma method under ambient air conditions, and the relationship between the properties of materials and catalytic characteristics has been established. The samples differed in the ratio of molybdenum, graphite, and melamine. The sample with the highest proportion of melamine in the initial mixture has Mo2C-MoO2 heterointerfaces, which demonstrates the highest and most stable electrocatalytic activity with the overpotential of 148 mV at 10 mA·cm-2 and Tafel slope of 63 mV·dec−1 in alkaline electrolyte. Meanwhile, the electrodes demonstrated long-lived electrochemical durability for two weeks and investigated the features of forming a stable system for HER.
