Charge Engineering of Mo2C@Defect-Rich N-Doped Carbon Nanosheets for Efficient Electrocatalytic H2 Evolution

Abstract

Abstract Charge engineering of carbon materials with many defects shows great potential in electrocatalysis, and molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) is one of the noble-metal-free electrocatalysts with the most potential. Herein, we study the Mo2C on pyridinic nitrogen-doped defective carbon sheets (MoNCs) as catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Theoretical calculations imply that the introduction of Mo2C produces a graphene wave structure, which in some senses behaves like N doping to form localized charges. Being an active electrocatalyst, MoNCs demonstrate a Tafel slope as low as 60.6 mV dec−1 and high durability of up to 10 h in acidic media. Besides charge engineering, plentiful defects and hierarchical morphology also contribute to good performance. This work underlines the importance of charge engineering to boost catalytic performance.

Keywords

• Molybdenum carbide
• Nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets
• Charge engineering
• Graphene wave
• Hydrogen evolution reaction