Mo-chelate strategy for synthesizing ultrasmall Mo2C nanoparticles embedded in carbon nanosheets for efficient hydrogen evolution

Production of hydrogen from electrochemical water splitting has been regarded as one of the most economic and sustainable techniques for green fuel production. It is significant and challengeable to develop highly efficient and low cost noble metal-free electrocatalysts. Presently, molybdenum-based electrocatalysts were regarded as potential alternatives for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, the well-dispersed and ultrasmall Mo2C nanoparticles (NPs) anchored on 2D carbon nanosheets were synthesized by designing chelate precursor and following pyrolysis, which was proved to be an effective approach for preparing carbon-loaded Mo2C NPs. The as-obtained Mo2C/C material exhibits an outstanding activity and stability in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). It needs an overpotential of 147 mV to drive 10 mA cm−2 and Tafel slope is 64.2 mV dec−1 in alkaline medium, implying that Mo2C/C material will be a potential noble metal-free electrocatalyst for HER. The design of Mo-chelate precursor is a feasible route to synthesize ultrafine Mo2C and it can provide a reference for synthesizing other nanoparticles and hindering particle coalescence at high preparation temperature.