In-situ decomposition of hydrocarbons from wood cell wall enables configuration of highly active and hierarchical catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Molybdenum carbide has been demonstrated as a promising alternative to noble metal catalysts toward green and efficient hydrogen conversion. However, the suboptimal hydrogen adsorption free energy ( increment GH*) and complex carbon reduction procedures remain crucial challenges. Herein, a gas-phase reaction approach based on the in-situ decomposition of hemicellulose and cellulose from natural wood was proposed for the design of highly active Mo2C nanoparticles that are tightly rooted into the hierarchical N-doped carbonized wood (denoted as Mo2C/N-CW). As expected, the Mo2C/N-CW catalyst exhibited low hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) overpotential (98 mV at 50 mA cm-2) and outstanding long-term durability. The theoretical findings show that the conjunction between Mo2C and N-CW can modulate the increment GH* to the desired level, thereby improving the HER activity. The proposed approach enabled by the decompositions from natural biomass to construct high-performance electrocatalysts opens a novel perspective for the efficient pro-duction of hydrogen energy.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Researchers proposed a gas-phase reaction approach based on the in-situ decomposition of hemicellulose and cellulose from natural wood to design highly active Mo2C nanoparticles that are tightly rooted into hierarchical N-doped carbonized wood. This approach can improve the reaction activity for hydrogen production and enable efficient hydrogen energy production.