Mo2C regulated by cobalt components doping in N-doped hollow carbon nanofibers as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen is a viable substitute to fossil fuels and electrochemically catalyzed hydrogen evolution has attracted wide attention due to its stability and effectiveness. Nevertheless it is still a major challenge to design and prepare highly active noble metal-free electrocatalysts with controllable structure and composition for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, Mo2C regulated by cobalt components (Co and CoO) doping in N-doped hollow carbon nanofibers (marked as Mo2C/Co/CoO-NHCNFs) are firstly designed and prepared via a facile coaxial electrospinning followed by calcination process. The one-dimensional conductive carbon host, hollow structure and synergistic effect among CoO, Co and Mo2C can jointly promote electron transfer, augment exposure of active sites and adjust the electronic structure of the active sites, resulting in the excellent of HER performances. The optimized catalyst has a high specific surface area of 101.27 m2 g−1. Meanwhile, it has a low overpotential of 143 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 74 mV dec−1 in 1.0 M KOH. Satisfactorily, the overpotential is reduced by 231 mV at the same current density compared with Mo2C doped in N-doped carbon nanofibers (named as Mo2C-NCNFs). Moreover, the Mo2C/Co/CoO-NHCNFs also demonstrate superior long-term stability. The formative mechanism of Mo2C/Co/CoO-NHCNFs is expounded, and the construction technique is established. The design philosophy and the simple and economical method are of significance for development of HER electrocatalysts.