Facile synthesis of transition metal carbide nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous carbon nanosheets for hydrogen evolution reaction

• Published in: Rare metals Vol. 41; no. 7; pp. 2237 - 2242
• Main Authors: Yu, Ying, Wang, Xuan-Li, Zhang, Hong-Kun, Cao, Zhi-Qin, Wu, Hao-Yang, Jia, Bao-Rui, Yang, Jun-Jun, Qu, Xuan-Hui, Qin, Ming-Li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Nonferrous Metals Society of China 01.07.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomaterials; Carbon; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chromium carbide; Combustion synthesis; Electrocatalysts; Electrons; Energy; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Letter; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Metal carbides; Metallic Materials; Nanoparticles; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanosheets; Physical Chemistry; Transition metals; Tungsten carbide; Vanadium carbide
• ISSN: 1001-0521; 1867-7185
• DOI: 10.1007/s12598-022-01991-6

Transition metal carbides (TMC) modified by mesoporous carbon nanosheets (MCNSs) with high activity, fast electron/ion transfer and long durability are considered as promising electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, most current synthesis methods involve in multistep, long duration and low output. In this work, Cr 3 C 2 , WC and VC nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous carbon nanosheets (TMC-NPs@MCNSs) were fabricated via a template-free and time-saving route by solution combustion synthesis. All TMC-NPs@MCNSs displayed good electrocatalytic activity for HER, and the Tafel plots of Cr 3 C 2 -NPs@MCNS, VC-NPs@MCNS and WC-NPs@MCNS electrocatalysts were 85, 77 and 56 mV·dec −1 , respectively. WC-NPs@MCNSs exhibited lower Tafel slope and overpotentials of 137 mV at ŋ 10 (a current density of 10 mA·cm −2 ), which could be ascribed to mesoporous structure, smaller particles size and strong electron interaction between W and C that promoted electron/ion transfer, maintained the structure integrity and enhanced the HER activity. Graphical abstract