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Updated: Aug 13, 2025

Synthesis of Metal Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Nanotube with Doped Co and N Atoms and its Catalytic Applications in Hydrogen Production
Published on: December 6, 2021
Insight into the catalytic activity of MXenes for hydrogen evolution reaction
Xiaowan Bai1, Chongyi Ling1, Li Shi1
1School of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China.
Abstract:
MXenes have exhibited great potential as cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, insight into the origin of activity is still missing. Herein, on the basis of a systematical investigation of the HER performance of 20 MXenes (M2NO2 and M2CO2, M = Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, Ta and W), a Fermi-abundance model is proposed to understand variation of the activity in different MXenes. It is found that the occupied p electronic states of surface O atoms play a decisive role in the HER activity of MXenes. More importantly, Ti2NO2 and Nb2NO2 are found to be promising HER electrocatalysts with the free energy for hydrogen adsorption close to zero. This work not only provides possible catalysts for HER, the developed Fermi-abundance model but also is applicable to other two-dimensional materials and may serve as a simple descriptor of the intrinsic HER activity.
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