Low-temperature selective synthesis of metastableα-MoC with electrochemical properties:Electrochemical co-reduction of CO_(2)and MoO_(3)in molten salts

Metastable molybdenum carbide(α-MoC),as a catalyst and an excellent support for metal catalysts,has been widely used in thermo/electro-catalytic reactions.However,the selective synthesis ofα-MoC remains a great challenge.Herein,a simple one-pot synthetic strategy for the selective preparation of metastableα-MoC is proposed by electrochemical co-reduction of CO_(2)and MoO_(3)in a low-temperature eutectic molten carbonate.The synthesizedα-MoC shows a reed flower-like morphology.By controlling the electrolysis time and monitoring the phase and morphology of the obtained products,the growth process ofα-MoC is revealed,where the carbon matrix is deposited first followed by the growth ofα-MoC from the carbon matrix.Moreover,by analyzing the composition of the electrolytic products,the formation mechanism forα-MoC is proposed.In addition,through this one-pot synthetic strategy,S-dopedα-MoC is successfully synthesized.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations reveal that S doping enhanced the HER performance ofα-MoC by facilitating water absorption and dissociation and weakening the bond energy of Mo-H to accelerate H desorption.The present work not only highlights the valuable utilization of CO_(2) but also offers a new perspective on the design and controllable synthesis of metal carbides and their derivatives.

An integrated strategy towards the facile synthesis of core-shell SiC-derived carbon@N-doped carbon for high-performance supercapacitors

Porous active core-shell carbon material with excellent synergistic effect has been regarded as a prospective material for supercapacitors.Herein,we report an integrated method for the facile synthesis of carbide-derived carbon(CDC)encapsulated with porous N-doped carbon(CDC@NC)towards highperformance supercapacitors.Polydopamine(PDA)as nitrogen and carbon sources was simply coated on SiC nanospheres to form SiC@PDA,which was then directly transformed into CDC@NC via a onestep molten salt electro-etching/in-situ doping process.The synthesized CDC@NC with hierarchically porous structure has a high specific surface area of 1191 m^(2) g^(-1).The CDC core and NC shell are typical amorphous carbon and more ordered N-doped carbon,respectively.Benefitting from its unique dual porous structures,the CDC@NC demonstrates high specific capacitances of 255 and 193 F g^(-1) at 0.5 and20 A g^(-1),respectively.The reaction mechanism of the electro-etching/in-situ doping process has also been investigated through experimental characterizations and theoretical density functional theory calculations.It is suggested that the molten salt electro-etching/in-situ doping strategy is promising for the synthesis of active core-shell porous carbon materials with synergistic properties for supercapacitors without the need for additional doping/activation processes.