Mo Doping Induced More Active Sites in Urchin-Like W18O49 Nanostructure with Remarkably Enhanced Performance for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Exploring highly efficient and inexpensive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts for various electrochemical energy conversion technologies is actively encouraged. Herein, a 3D urchin-like Mo-W18O49 nanostructure as an effi cient HER catalyst is reported for the first time. The obtained Mo-W18O49 catalyst exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity toward HER with small onset potential and Tafel slope. The prepared Mo-W18O49 electrode shows excellent durability after a long period. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the remarkably enhanced performance of Mo-W18O49 can be due to the ability of Mo dopant to increase the number of active sites, leading to optimal hydrogen adsorption on the active sites because of the electronic and geometric modulation. In addition, the urchin-like 3D morphology with a high surface area and abundant 1D nanowires promotes electron transfer, thereby ensuring fast interfacial charge transfer to improve electrocatalytic reactions. All these experimental and theoretical results clearly reveal that Mo-W18O49 intrinsically improves HER activity and thus has potential applications in water splitting.