Nanoporous molybdenum dioxide on pencil graphite electrode as high effective electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

In this paper, we presented a really simple, cheap and fast preparation method for direct electrodeposition of MoO₂ on the pencil graphite electrode (PGE) as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst with a high current density at a low overpotential. PGE was modified by molybdenum dioxide (MoO₂) nanoporous via simple electrodeposition technique by electroreduction of Mo(VI) to Mo(IV) on the PGE. X-ray diffraction analysis showed a monoclinic structure of MoO₂ on the PGE. MoO₂ nanoporous morphology on the PGE was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The MoO₂/PGE exhibited a small overpotential of 150 mV toward HER, close to the thermodynamic potential already observed on the Pt wire. The long-term stability of the MoO₂–PGE was proved by extended electrolysis at overpotential of 200 mV with negligible degradation of catalytic current after 10 h. According to the obtained results, this developed method has high ability to use in clean hydrogen production technologies.