Multifunctional Dicyandiamide Blowing-Induced Formation of Electrocatalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

The development of cost-efficient, highly active, and stable electrocatalysts toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is vital for energy conversion and clean hydrogen production. Herein, the novel electrocatalyst, porous carbon-coated Ni/β-Mo₂C (Ni/β-Mo₂C@PC), possesses favorable hydrogen production performance and stability in a wide range of pH via a facile dicyandiamide-blowing and one-step synthesis method. The resultant Ni/β-Mo₂C@PC displays pleasurable HER performance with low overpotentials of 123, 155, and 179 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 in 1 M KOH, 0.5 M H₂SO₄, and 1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS), respectively. Furthermore, Ni/β-Mo₂C@PC retains high durability with quite little decay after 24 h stability test, suggesting the excellent activity and stability of Ni/β-Mo₂C@PC served as HER electrocatalysts. Otherwise, it is advantageous compared with Ni@PC, Mo₂C@PC, and most other nonprecious metal electrocatalysts. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of the two popular active species, uniform distribution, and porous carbon coating, these porous nanoelectrocatalysts showcase satisfactory electrocatalytic activity, improving the charge transfer and kinetics during the reaction. This work possesses significant universality, which can be applicable to the synthesis of diverse nanostructured noble metal-free catalysts.