title: A Redox-anchoring Approach to Well-dispersed MoCx/C Nanocomposite for Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.
abstract: Here we report a redox-anchoring strategy for synthesizing a non-noble metal carbide (MoCx) nanocomposite electrocatalyst for water electrolysis in acidic media, using glucose and ammonium heptamolybdate as carbon and Mo precursors, respectively, without the need of gaseous carbon sources such as CH4. Specifically, the aldehyde groups of glucose are capable of reducing Mo6+to Mo4+(MoO2), and thus molybdenum species can be well anchored by a redox reaction onto a carbon matrix to prevent the aggregation of MoCxnanoparticles during the following carbonization process. The morphology and chemical composition of the electrocatalysts were well characterized by BSE-SEM, TEM, XRD and XPS. The obtained MoCx-2 sample showed a reasonably high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity and excellent stability in an acidic electrolyte, and its overpotential required for a current density output of 20 mA cm-2is as low as 193 mV. Such a prominent performance is ascribed to the excellent dispersity and nano-size, and the large reactive surface area of MoCxparticles. This work may open a new way to the design and fabrication of other non-noble metal carbide nanocatalysts for various electrochemical applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, P.R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yajun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lingxia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Weimin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, P.R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lisong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiangzhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, P.R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaohua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, P.R. China.|Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing, 211800, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jianlin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
keywords: electrocatalysis; hydrogen evolution reaction; molybdenum carbide; nanocomposites; redox-anchoring