Tungsten nitride/carbide nanocomposite encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon shell as an effective and durable catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Replacement of noble-metal platinum catalysts with low-cost, durability, and highly efficient electrocatalysts holds huge potential for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Transition-metal carbides and nitrides have attracted much attention on account of their specific noble-metal-like d-state density electron structure. Herein, we synthesized WN–W₂C nanocomposites uniformly encapsulated in nitrogen-doped (4.21 atom%) carbon shell through in situ carbonized WO_X/aniline hybrid nanoparticles. The catalysts displayed remarkable performance with a low overpotential of only 242 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and an excellent long-term durability performance i.e., 5000 cycles owing to the protection of the carbon shell. The enhanced catalytic activities arose from the synergistic effect of tungsten nitride (WN) and tungsten carbide (W₂C) nanocrystals and abundant nitrogen content. The current study might inspire the design of advanced and performance-oriented metal carbide and nitride-hybrid based electrocatalysts for wider applications in hydrogen evolution reaction.