Novel Molybdenum Carbide-Tungsten Carbide Composite Nanowires and Their Electrochemical Activation for Efficient and Stable Hydrogen Evolution

Development of nonnoble metal catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical to enable an efficient production of hydrogen at low cost and large scale. In this work, a novel bimetallic carbide nanostructure consisting of Mo2C and WC is synthesized. Based on a highly conductive WC backbone, nanosized Mo2C particles are integrated onto WC, forming a well-defined and highly robust nanowire structure. More importantly, it is found that electrochemical activation can partially remove surface carbon and activate the catalyst by changing its surface hydrophilicity. As a result, the residual carbon contributes positively to the activity, besides its role of protecting carbide from oxidation. Benefiting from the structure, the catalyst achieves high activity, stable electrolysis towards HER.