title: Electrospinning Hetero-Nanofibers of Fe3C-Mo2C/Nitrogen-Doped-Carbon as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution.
abstract: Heterostructured electrocatalysts with multiple active components are expected to synchronously address the two elementary steps in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which require varied hydrogen-binding strength on the catalyst surface. Herein, electrospinning followed by a pyrolysis is introduced to design Fe3C-Mo2C/nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe3C-Mo2C/NC) hetero-nanofibers (HNFs) with tunable composition, leading to abundant Fe3C-Mo2C hetero-interfaces for synergy in electrocatalysis. Owing to the strong hydrogen binding on Mo2C and the relatively weak one on Fe3C, the hetero-interfaces of Fe3C-Mo2C remarkably promote HER kinetics and intrinsic activity. Additionally, the loose and porous N-doped carbon matrix, as a result of Fe-catalyzed carbonization, ensures the fast transport of electrolytes and electrons, thus minimizing diffusion limitation. As expected, the optimized Fe3C-Mo2C/NC HNFs afforded a low overpotential of 116 mV at a current density of -10 mA cm-2and striking kinetics metrics (onset overpotential: 42 mV, Tafel slope: 43 mV dec-1) in 0.5 m H2SO4, outperforming most recently reported noble-metal-free electrocatalysts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Huanlei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wenbiao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhangping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Minwei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Che
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, P.R. China.|Analytic and Testing Centre, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qingsheng
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4273-8500
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D004560:Electricity; D004563:Electrochemistry; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D058085:Iron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D008982:Molybdenum / Q000737:chemistry*; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity
chemical_list: D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic; D058085:Iron Compounds; C541825:iron carbide; C574181:molybdenum carbide; D002244:Carbon; D006859:Hydrogen; D008982:Molybdenum; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: electrocatalysts; heterostructures; hydrogen evolution reaction; metal carbides; synergic enhancement