Heterostructured VN/Mo2C Nanoparticles as Highly Efficient pH-Universal Electrocatalysts toward the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Development of cost-effective and high-efficiency electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is still of great significance for industrial clean hydrogen fuel production. Herein, a novel heterostructured VN/Mo2C nanoparticle is synthesized by a facile and one-step pyrolysis protocol. When applied for the HER, the optimized VN/Mo2C catalyst exhibited quite low overpotentials (alkaline medium: 45 mV, acid medium: 140 mV, and neutral medium: 180 mV) for driving the current density of 10 mA cm–2, obviously superior to the isolated vanadium nitride (VN) and Mo2C counterparts, and remarkable catalytic durability for at least 100 h. Such an outstanding electrocatalytic HER performance is primarily ascribed to the increased catalytically active sites, enhanced electronic interaction effects, as well as the improved electrical conductivity over the heterostructured VN/Mo2C nanoparticles. This study provides a new method for the design of HER electrocatalysts with high efficiency and stability.