title: Silver-doped molybdenum carbide catalyst with high activity for electrochemical water splitting.
abstract: A hybrid catalyst composed of silver (Ag) doped wire-like molybdenum carbide (MoxCy) with pure β-phase and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was coated well on a carbon rod electrode for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The effects of Ag loading amount and carbonization temperature on the crystal form of MoxCywere investigated in detail. It is found that the MoxCycrystal form can be tuned by adjusting the preparation conditions, and nanostructured wire-like Mo2C with pure β-phase was obtained at a temperature over 750 °C. Ag/MoxCycomposite nanomaterials were investigated by X-ray diffraction, UV/vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis. The hybrid catalyst was further deposited on the carbon nanotube (CNT) modified carbon rod substrate. Due to the high surface area and 3D porous network-like microstructure, the Ag/Mo2C/CNTs hybrid electrode showed enhanced catalytic performance when comparing with the corresponding pure one. Particularly, for the Ag-doped Mo2C/CNTs hybrid electrode with an optimum 1 Ag : 5 Mo molar ratio of the precursors, a current density of 10 mA cm-2was obtained by applying an overpotential of 142 mV in 0.5 mol L-1H2SO4solution. It is expected that such a hybrid electrode can be widely applied for effective electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 1-Bunkyocho, Hirosaki 036-8560, Japan.
authors.forename: Xiumin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: North Japan Research Institute for Sustainable Energy (NJRISE), Hirosaki University, 2-1-3, Matsubara, Aomori 030-0813, Japan. guan@hirosaki-u.ac.jp and Department of Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xuli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: North Japan Research Institute for Sustainable Energy (NJRISE), Hirosaki University, 2-1-3, Matsubara, Aomori 030-0813, Japan. guan@hirosaki-u.ac.jp and Department of Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: North Japan Research Institute for Sustainable Energy (NJRISE), Hirosaki University, 2-1-3, Matsubara, Aomori 030-0813, Japan. guan@hirosaki-u.ac.jp and Department of Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Junlan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaogang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 1-Bunkyocho, Hirosaki 036-8560, Japan.
authors.forename: Abuliti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abudula
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 1-Bunkyocho, Hirosaki 036-8560, Japan and North Japan Research Institute for Sustainable Energy (NJRISE), Hirosaki University, 2-1-3, Matsubara, Aomori 030-0813, Japan. guan@hirosaki-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Guoqing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guan