Molten salt synthesis of Co-entrapped, N-doped mesoporous carbon with CoCl2 as template for hydrogen evolution

A series of Co-entrapped, N-doped mesoporous carbons were prepared through the molten salts method. Glucose, melamine, and CoCl2 were used as carbon precursor, nitrogen precursor, and template, respectively. The characterization results show that all of these as-synthesized catalysts possess mesoporous structures. Moreover, the amount of CoCl2 could determine the textural properties of the final materials. The highest BET surface area of these materials is 327.5 m(2) g(-1), when 0.15 g CoCl2 was added as the template. When using as the electrocatalyst towards hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic media, the catalyst shows a low onset over potential of - 99 mV and a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) at - 168 mV, in addition to enhanced stability.