Mo2C-Ni-modified nitrogen-doped carbon nanofiber toward efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

Here, we synthesized a Mo2C-Ni-modified nitrogen-doped carbon nanofiber (Mo2C-Ni@N-CNF) material by a Te nanowire template-directed hydrothermal and carbonization process. It was found that the addition of Ni nanoparticles could improve the activity of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by a synergistic effect within the Mo2C-modified N-CNFs. As we expected, the as-synthesized Mo2C-Ni@N-CNF with a Ni/Mo ratio of 0.046 was nearly the most efficient non-noble-metal catalyst for the HER with acidic media at present, and has a low overpotential and a small Tafel slope of 65 mV vs. RHE (at a current density of 10 mA cm−2) and 72 mV dec−1 respectively, as well as satisfactory stability. Besides, it also has relatively good HER performance in alkaline electrolyte. Hence, this work confirmed that 3d transition metals, which are cheap and abundant, could easily achieve high activity and durability by reasonable design.