Heterostructures of MXenes and CoNx-Graphene as highly active electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline media

Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) plays a vital role in renewable energy conversion for the development of hydrogen-based energy sources. Lately, heterostructures through hybridizing MXenes with two-dimensional materials have been successfully fabricated and attract much attention due to the exceptional performance as electrodes for Li ion storage and electrocatalysts for HER. Herein, we constructed heterostructures of CoN-graphene (CoN-G, x = 2 and 4) supported by MXenes (Ti) monolayer as highly active electrocatalysts for HER. The theoretical results show that the CoN heterostructure exhibits a high performance for HER with an over-potential (x220;) of only 0.33 V, and the rate-limiting step is determined to be the initial water dissociation process in alkaline media. The outstanding performance of CoN 2is strongly attributed to the interfacial coupling between CoN-G and the MXene substrate. Our finding demonstrates that the sluggish hydrogen evolution process in alkaline media can be facilitated by taking advantage of the fast charge transfer kinetics and interfacial coupling of MXenes.

Automated summary

The hybrid structures of MXenes and two-dimensional materials exhibit outstanding electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reaction, showing promise for renewable energy conversion.