Ultrafine molybdenum silicide nanoparticles as efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst in acidic medium

摘要

Molybdenum silicides are promising electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution in acidic environment due to their dual characteristics of metal and ceramics as well as high electrical conductivity and acid resistance. At present, most of the transition metal silicides were synthesized at high temperature, resulting in large particle size and small specific surface area, which seriously limits their electrocatalytic applications. Herein, we report a low temperature strategy for the synthesis of ultrafine Mo5Si3 and MoSi2 nanoparticles with diameter of similar to 5 nm by molten salt method. Results show that both of them demonstrated excellent electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity and stability in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution, in which the overpotentials of Mo5Si3 and MoSi2 nanoparticles at 10 mA cm(-2) are 80 mV and 94 mV, respectively. This general strategy may light up the preparation of ultrafine transition metal silicides nanoparticles and facilitate their applications in electrocatalytic areas. (C) 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.