In-situ synthesis of carbon-coated Mo2C: An exceptionally efficient and robust electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

In the present work, the Mo 2 C electrocatalyst has been synthesized using waste plastic as carbon source. The use of plastic bottle has been chosen to reduce the cost of electrocatalyst as well to address the environmental issues caused due to these wastes. The pure phase sample was synthesized at 800 °C by carburizing MoO 3 in an autoclave. The synthesized sample shows high activity towards HER with a lower Tafel slope of 85.7 mVdec−1. One of the exceptional features of the developed electrocatalyst is the long-term stability up to 7 days as determined by chronopotentiometry results. The improved activity and stability have been attributed to the presence of graphene like structures encapsulating the Mo 2 C particles. The presence of carbon also shows higher storage ability with an electrochemical double layer capacitance (EDLC, C dl) of 91.0 μF. The synthesized sample shows an efficient and stable electrocatalyst towards HER. • Mo 2 C electrocatalyst has been synthesized using waste plastic as carbon source. • Mo 2 C pure phase was obtained by carburizing MoO 3 at 800 °C in an autoclave. • The sample showed a lower Tafel slope of 85.7 mVdec−1 towards HER. • The prepared electrocatalyst demonstrated long-term stability up to 7 days. • Higher storage ability (C dl = 91 μF s) was observed in the prepared sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]