Reduced graphene oxide-supported Ni-MoxC electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction prepared by ultrasonication and lyophilization

Abstract A Ni and Mo x C hybrid (Ni-Mo x C) supported on N-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) electrocatalyst with high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity was prepared by ultrasonication and lyophilization. Notably, benefiting from the synergistic effect between Ni and Mo x C nanoparticles, the optimized electrocatalyst displayed excellent catalytic activity with low overpotentials of 183 mV and 216 mV for the HER at the current density 10 mA cm −2 in 1.0 M KOH and 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 solution. The stability of the electrocatalyst could be well maintained for 24 h. These results indicate that the method to prepare hybrid (Ni-Mo x C) is a simple way to produce cost-effective and high-efficient molybdenum carbide for hydrogen evolution.