AUTHOR=Khan Muhammad Waqas , Loomba Suraj , Ali Rashad , Mohiuddin Md , Alluqmani Ahmed , Haque Farjana , Liu Yongkun , Sagar Rizwan Ur Rehman , Zavabeti Ali , Alkathiri Turki , Shabbir Babar , Jian Xian , Ou Jian Zhen , Mahmood Asif , Mahmood Nasir TITLE=Nitrogen-Doped Oxygenated Molybdenum Phosphide as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Media JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry VOLUME=8 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2020.00733 DOI=10.3389/fchem.2020.00733 ISSN=2296-2646 ABSTRACT=

Phosphides of transition metals (TMPs) are a developing class of materials for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) as an alternative to expensive noble metals to produce clean energy. Herein, the nitrogen-doped molybdenum oxide (MoOx) is developed via a facile and simple hydrothermal method, followed by annealing in the N2 atmosphere and phosphorization to form a nitrogen-doped oxygenated molybdenum phosphide (N-MoP) sphere-shaped structure. The developed N-doped phosphide structure depicts enhanced HER activity by reaching a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a very low overpotential of only 87 mV, which is much better than annealed nitrogen-doped molybdenum oxide (A-MoOx) 138 mV in alkaline medium. N-MoP is a highly efficient electrocatalyst for HER attributed to a more exposed surface, large electrode/electrolyte interface and appropriate binding energies for reactants. This study extends the opportunity of developing nitrogen-doped TMPs, which can display exceptional properties as compared to their oxides.