Vapor-assisted engineering heterostructure of 1D Mo3N2 nanorod decorated with nitrogen-doped carbon for rapid pH-Universal hydrogen evolution reaction

Reasonable construction of heterostructure is of significance yet a great challenge towards efficient pH-universal catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, a facial strategy coupling gas-phase nitridation with simultaneous heterogenization has been developed to synthesize heterostructure of one-dimensional (1D) Mo 3 N 2 nanorod decorated with ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon layer (Mo 3 N 2 @NC NR). Thereinto, the collaborative interface of Mo 3 N 2 and NC is conducive to accomplish rapid electron transfer for reaction kinetics and weaken the Mo–H ads bond for boosting the intrinsic activity of catalysts. As expected, Mo 3 N 2 @NC NR delivers an excellent catalytic activity for HER with low overpotentials of 85, 129, and 162 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm −2 in alkaline, acidic, and neutral electrolytes, respectively, and favorable long-term stability over a broad pH range. As for practical application in electrocatalytic water splitting (EWS) under alkaline, Mo 3 N 2 @NC NR || NiFe-LDH-based EWS also exhibits a low cell voltage of 1.55 V and favorable durability at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 , even surpassing the Pt/C || RuO 2 -based EWS (1.60 V). Consequently, the proposed suitable methodology here may accelerate the development of Mo-based electrocatalysts in pH-universal non-noble metal materials for energy conversion. • A methodology coupling g as-phase nitridation with simultaneous heterogenization. • The collaborative interface markedly boosts the intrinsic activity of catalysts. • Mo 3 N 2 @NC exhibits superior activity and durability for HER in all pH electrolytes.