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Mo2C Ceramic Electrode Embedded with PtMo3 Nanograins for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction at High Current Density
Anding Huang1, Jiahao Li1, Chuntian Tan1
1State Key Laboratory of Precision and Intelligent Chemistry, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P. R. China.
Abstract:
The scarcity and high price seriously hinder the large-scale industrial application of Pt as the preferred catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). A PtMo3@Mo2C catalytic electrode was designed based on a porous Mo2C ceramic membrane with finger-like holes, where PtMo3 nanograins were uniformly embedded in the surface of the Mo2C grains by electrodeposition and thermal reduction. The loading of Pt is as small as 7.8 × 10-4 g m-2. The electrode exhibits extraordinary HER catalytic performance with an overpotential of 189 mV to drive a current density of 2.0 A cm-2 (acidic) and 212 mV to drive a current density of 1.0 A cm-2 (alkaline). Under ultrahigh current densities, the electrode can operate stably for over 152 h, demonstrating high structural stability and catalytic stability. Theoretical calculations indicate that the formation of Mo2C(100)/PtMo3(200) can further optimize the electronic structure of the interface Pt atoms, thereby enhancing the HER performance.
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