Mo2C based electrocatalyst with nitrogen doped three-dimensional mesoporous carbon as matrix, synthesis and HER activity study

H2 is clean power source, which can be obtained from hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) through electrocatalysis directly. To obtain highly effective electrocatalyst with low price for HER, small Mo2C nanoparticles with dimension about 4–6 nm were loaded on rice paper derived nitrogen doped 3D mesoporous carbon matrix with ammonium heptamolybdate as precursor after calcination. The unique 3D mesoporous carbon matrix donates the electrocatalyst large surface as well as high conductivity, which enhances HER activity in great extent. In 0.5 M H2SO4, to obtain the current with density 10 mA cm−2, the electrocatalyst only requires overpotential of 155 mV with Tafel slope merely 73 mV·dec−1. In 1.0 M KOH, these values decrease to 78 mV and 64 mV·dec−1. Moreover, this electrocatalyst also exhibits outstanding stability and its activity keeps stable after 2000 runs 10 h long-time tests. In 0.5 M H2SO4, the H2 production rate of this electrocatalyst achieves 456 μmol h−1. The faradaic efficiency this electrocatalyst arrives nearly 100% in both acidic and basic conditions. This work introduces a new and efficient strategy to fabricate noble metal free HER electrocatalyst with cheap material as precursor. The simple preparation procedure facilitates the application of this electrocatalyst in HER.