A metal-organic framework-derived method was developed to synthesize highly efficient non-noble metal electrocatalyst for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Zn²⁺, phosphomolybdic acid were coordinated with 2-methylimidazole, and zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P) species were removed by annealing at 850 °C in N₂ atmosphere, resulting in micro/mesoporous molybdenum carbide (Mo₂C) composited with nitrogen-doped carbon (denoted as ZIF8-xMo-850). The optimized sample ZIF8-12Mo-850 displayed a low overpotential of ~85.7 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², with a corresponding Tafel slope of ~69.7 mV dec⁻¹ in 1 M KOH. This HER catalytic activity was competitive with the most recently developed Mo₂C-based HER electrocatalysts. From further investigation, the high HER catalytic activity of ZIF8-12Mo-850 is owing to three aspects: (i) The appropriate Mo feeding amount of ZIF8-12Mo-850 resulted in the highest surface content of Mo²⁺ active site; (ii) The evaporation of Zn and P in the ZIF8-12Mo precursor formed its largest average pore diameter of 32.3 nm, which leaded to the highest electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) of 64.29 cm² (iii) The 2-methylimidazole in the precursor resulted in the highest surface content of pyridinic N in ZIF8-12Mo-850 (14.63%), which efficiently improved its conductivity and charge transfer efficiency.

开发了一种金属有机骨架的方法，以合成用于碱氢析出反应（HER）的高效非贵金属电催化剂。Zn ²⁺和磷钼酸与2-甲基咪唑配位，在N ₂气氛中于850°C退火去除锌（Zn）和磷（P）物种，从而合成了微/中孔碳化钼（Mo ₂ C）掺氮碳（表示为ZIF8-xMo-850）。经过优化的样品ZIF8-12Mo-850在1 M KOH中显示约85.7 mV的低过电势，可提供10 mA cm ^-2的电流密度，相应的Tafel斜率约为69.7 mV dec ^-1。这种HER催化活性与最新开发的Mo具有竞争性₂ C基HER电催化剂。通过进一步的研究，ZIF8-12Mo-850的高HER催化活性归因于以下三个方面：（i）ZIF8-12Mo-850的适量Mo喂入导致Mo ²⁺活性位点的最高表面含量；（ii）ZIF8-12Mo前体中的Zn和P蒸发形成了最大的平均孔径32.3 nm，这导致了64.29 cm ²的最高电化学活性表面积（ECSA）（iii）前驱体导致ZIF8-12Mo-850中吡啶N的最高表面含量（14.63％），从而有效地提高了其电导率和电荷转移效率。