Iron-Doped Molybdenum Carbide Catalyst with High Activity and Stability for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Molybdenum-based materials have been widely investigated recently as promising alternatives to platinum for catalyzing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Molybdenum carbide is one of the most studied transition-metal carbides because of its cheap price, high abundance, good conductivity, and catalytic activity. In order to further improve the catalytic activity of molybdenum carbide, some modifications have been applied. In this paper, a wide range of magnetic iron-doped molybdenum carbide (Mo2–xFexC) nanomaterials were synthesized by a unique amine–metal oxide composite method. The amount of iron dopants was controlled by setting different iron/molybdenum ratios in the precursors. Iron-doped molybdenum carbide nanomaterials were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, Raman microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electrocatalytic HER tests were used to demonstrate the catalytic activity upon addition of a second metal into the lattice of molybdenum carbide. Finally, Ni was also doped into the lattice of molybdenum carbide to prove the generality of the synthetic method and tested for catalytic activity.