Interfacial engineering of N, S-doped Mo2C-Mo/C heterogeneous nanorods for enhanced alkaline hydrogen evolution

Interfacial engineering of cost-effective non-noble materials is attractive for synthesizing advanced electro-catalysts toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we prepare N, S-doped Mo2C-Mo/C heterogeneous nanorods (NSMB-1.25) with abundant active heterointerfaces and defect sites via in situ polymerization and carburization strategy. The polyaniline-derived heteroatom-doped carbon acts not only as a matrix but also as a carbon source for Mo2C formation. The phase transition of Mo2C-Mo heterostructure is accurately regulated by delicately varying the dosage of the polymerization initiator and calcine temperature. The synergistic effects of Mo2C, metallic Mo and N, S doping carbon significantly enhance the HER activity and durability of nanorods. Benefiting from the plentiful active sites of the Mo2C-Mo heterointerfaces, fast charge and mass transfer chan-nels, heteroatomic doping and large surface area, the as-prepared NSMB-1.25 nanorods deliver only 118 mV overpotential at 10 mA cm-2 current density, small Tafel slopes of 74 mV dec-1, high exchange current density of 25.84 x 10-2 mA cm-2 and excellent stability in 1.0 M KOH solution. This work may support a feasible strategy for reasonably designing highly active heterogeneous interfaces to achieve efficient energy conversion and storage.

Automated summary

By in situ polymerization and carburization strategy, N, S-doped Mo2C-Mo/C heterogeneous nanorods (NSMB-1.25) with abundant active heterointerfaces and defect sites were prepared. The phase transition of Mo2C-Mo heterostructure was accurately regulated by delicately varying the dosage of the polymerization initiator and calcine temperature. The synergistic effects of Mo2C, metallic Mo and N, S doping carbon significantly enhanced the HER activity and durability of nanorods. The as-prepared NSMB-1.25 nanorods exhibited excellent electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).