title: Coupling Mo2 C with Nitrogen-Rich Nanocarbon Leads to Efficient Hydrogen-Evolution Electrocatalytic Sites.
abstract: In our efforts to obtain electrocatalysts with improved activity for water splitting, meticulous design and synthesis of the active sites of the electrocatalysts and deciphering how exactly they catalyze the reaction are vitally necessary. Herein, we report a one-step facile synthesis of a novel precious-metal-free hydrogen-evolution nanoelectrocatalyst, dubbed Mo2 C@NC that is composed of ultrasmall molybdenum carbide (Mo2 C) nanoparticles embedded within nitrogen-rich carbon (NC) nanolayers. The Mo2 C@NC hybrid nanoelectrocatalyst shows remarkable catalytic activity, has great durability, and gives about 100 % Faradaic yield toward the hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER) over a wide pH range (pH 0-14). Theoretical calculations show that the Mo2 C and N dopants in the material synergistically co-activate adjacent C atoms on the carbon nanolayers, creating superactive nonmetallic catalytic sites for HER that are more active than those in the constituents.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, International Joint Research Laboratory of Nano-Micro Architecture Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Yipu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, International Joint Research Laboratory of Nano-Micro Architecture Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Guangtao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, International Joint Research Laboratory of Nano-Micro Architecture Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Guo-Dong
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, International Joint Research Laboratory of Nano-Micro Architecture Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Yuanhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology & Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (USA). tasefa@rci.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Tewodros
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asefa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, International Joint Research Laboratory of Nano-Micro Architecture Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023 (P.R. China). xychwei@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, International Joint Research Laboratory of Nano-Micro Architecture Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012 (P.R. China). xxzou@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zou
keywords: catalytically active site; composite material; electrocatalysis; molybdenum carbide; water splitting