Termination-acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction
Abstract Transition-metal carbides have been advocated as the promising alternatives to noble-metal platinum-based catalysts in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction over half a century. However, the effectiveness of transition-metal carbides catalyzing hydrogen evolution in high-pH electroly...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55854-6 |
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| author | Zhigang Chen Minghao Yang Yifan Li Wenbin Gong Juan Wang Tong Liu Chunyu Zhang Shuang Hou Guang Yang Hao Li Ye Jin Chunyan Zhang Zhongqing Tian Fancheng Meng Yi Cui |
| author_facet | Zhigang Chen Minghao Yang Yifan Li Wenbin Gong Juan Wang Tong Liu Chunyu Zhang Shuang Hou Guang Yang Hao Li Ye Jin Chunyan Zhang Zhongqing Tian Fancheng Meng Yi Cui |
| author_sort | Zhigang Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Transition-metal carbides have been advocated as the promising alternatives to noble-metal platinum-based catalysts in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction over half a century. However, the effectiveness of transition-metal carbides catalyzing hydrogen evolution in high-pH electrolyte is severely compromised due to the lowered proton activity and intractable alkaline-leaching issue of transition-metal centers. Herein, on the basis of validation of molybdenum-carbide model-catalyst system by taking advantage of surface science techniques, Mo2C micro-size spheres terminated by Al3+ doped MoO2 layer exhibit a notable performance of alkaline hydrogen evolution with a near-zero onset-potential, a low overpotential (40 mV) at a typical current density of 10 mA/cm2, and a small Tafel slope (45 mV/dec), as well as a long-term stability for continuous hydrogen production over 200 h. Advanced morphology and spectroscopy characterizations demonstrate that the local -Al-OH-Mo- structures within Al-MoO2 terminations serve as strong Brønsted acid sites that accelerate the deprotonation kinetics in alkaline HER process. Our work paves an interesting termination-acidity-tailoring strategy to explore cost-effective catalysts towards water electrolysis and beyond. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e0863019c308487999d870d78db02b0f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-e0863019c308487999d870d78db02b0f2025-01-12T12:31:06ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111410.1038/s41467-025-55854-6Termination-acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reactionZhigang Chen0Minghao Yang1Yifan Li2Wenbin Gong3Juan Wang4Tong Liu5Chunyu Zhang6Shuang Hou7Guang Yang8Hao Li9Ye Jin10Chunyan Zhang11Zhongqing Tian12Fancheng Meng13Yi Cui14School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of TechnologySchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of Technologyi-lab, Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of SciencesSchool of Physics and Energy, Xuzhou University of TechnologyShanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciencesi-lab, Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciencesi-lab, Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciencesi-lab, Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciencesi-lab, Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciencesi-lab, Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of SciencesCollege of Science, Chongqing University of TechnologySchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of TechnologySchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of TechnologySchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of Technologyi-lab, Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of SciencesAbstract Transition-metal carbides have been advocated as the promising alternatives to noble-metal platinum-based catalysts in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction over half a century. However, the effectiveness of transition-metal carbides catalyzing hydrogen evolution in high-pH electrolyte is severely compromised due to the lowered proton activity and intractable alkaline-leaching issue of transition-metal centers. Herein, on the basis of validation of molybdenum-carbide model-catalyst system by taking advantage of surface science techniques, Mo2C micro-size spheres terminated by Al3+ doped MoO2 layer exhibit a notable performance of alkaline hydrogen evolution with a near-zero onset-potential, a low overpotential (40 mV) at a typical current density of 10 mA/cm2, and a small Tafel slope (45 mV/dec), as well as a long-term stability for continuous hydrogen production over 200 h. Advanced morphology and spectroscopy characterizations demonstrate that the local -Al-OH-Mo- structures within Al-MoO2 terminations serve as strong Brønsted acid sites that accelerate the deprotonation kinetics in alkaline HER process. Our work paves an interesting termination-acidity-tailoring strategy to explore cost-effective catalysts towards water electrolysis and beyond.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55854-6 |
| spellingShingle | Zhigang Chen Minghao Yang Yifan Li Wenbin Gong Juan Wang Tong Liu Chunyu Zhang Shuang Hou Guang Yang Hao Li Ye Jin Chunyan Zhang Zhongqing Tian Fancheng Meng Yi Cui Termination-acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction Nature Communications |
| title | Termination-acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction |
| title_full | Termination-acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction |
| title_fullStr | Termination-acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Termination-acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction |
| title_short | Termination-acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction |
| title_sort | termination acidity tailoring of molybdenum carbides for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55854-6 |
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