Two-dimensional transition metal carbides, nitrides and carbonitrides, also known as MXenes, have been attracting much attention in a variety of electrochemical and other applications.1 Recently, by combining theoretical calculations and experiments, we investigated the application of MXenes as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and found that Mo2CTxexhibit the best HER activity among various MXenes.2 Different with the widely studied MoS2, in which only the edge sites are catalytically active, the basal planes of Mo2CTxare catalytically active toward the HER.2Furthermore, we explored the effects of surface terminations of MXenes on their HER activity.Both theoretically and experimentally, we validated that those with higher fluorine coverage on the basal plane exhibited lower HER activity, which indicates that the oxygen groups on the basal planes of Mo2CTxare catalytically active toward the HER. These results pave the way for the development of 2D materials toward electrocatalysis.

Two-dimensional transition metal carbides (MXenes) as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction

2019 Spring National Meeting

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