Issue 11, 2019

W2C nanodot-decorated CNT networks as a highly efficient and stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution in acidic and alkaline media

Abstract

Although tungsten carbide (W2C) has long been reported as an excellent platinum-like catalyst, it is still a challenge to synthesize W2C as an electrocatalyst for a highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to its high onset overpotential, inevitable aggregation, and lack of a scalable and controllable synthesis method. Herein, we synthesized W2C nanodot-decorated CNT networks (W2C@CNT-S) via a facile and scalable spray drying method followed by a carbonization process. It is demonstrated that this unique nanoarchitecture, constructed by ultrafine W2C nanodots homogeneously decorated on a three-dimensional and conductive CNT skeleton, leads to the exposure of abundant catalytic sites and promotes highly efficient electron transfer and ion diffusion during the HER process. As a result, in acidic and alkaline media, the optimized W2C@CNT-S hybrid exhibited excellent HER performance with very low onset overpotentials of only 60 and 40 mV (vs. RHE) and very small Tafel slopes of 57.4 and 56.2 mV dec−1, and only needed 176 and 148 mV (vs. RHE) to obtain a current density of 10 mA cm−2, respectively; it also showed outstanding long-term durability even after a 30-hour test in both acidic and alkaline media. This study presents an overview of a low-cost and scalable spray-drying strategy to synthesize a high-performance carbide-based electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution.

Graphical abstract: W2C nanodot-decorated CNT networks as a highly efficient and stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution in acidic and alkaline media

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 ⴷⵓⵊ 2018
Accepted
10 ⴱⵕⴰ 2019
First published
12 ⴱⵕⴰ 2019

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 4876-4884

W2C nanodot-decorated CNT networks as a highly efficient and stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution in acidic and alkaline media

Y. Hu, B. Yu, W. Li, M. Ramadoss and Y. Chen, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 4876 DOI: 10.1039/C8NR10281C

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