Molten salt synthesis of Co-entrapped, N-doped porous carbon from various nitrogen precursors as efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution

We synthesized a variety of Co-entrapped, N-doped porous carbon materials via a molten salt process. Dicyandiamide, urea, guanidine hydrochloride, and histidine were used as the nitrogen precursors. Glucose and ZnCl₂ were used as carbon precursor and template, respectively. The nitrogen precursors greatly affect the porous structures of the final samples and thus the electrocatalytic activities toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). All the samples possess porous structures with high surface area and large pore volume. Electrocatalytic tests for hydrogen evolution reaction show that CoNDC-G is highly active for HER in alkaline media and is stable in the reaction without appreciated loss of activity after 10 h.