Template-free synthesis of porous Mo3P/MoP nanobelts as efficient catalysts for hydrogen generation

Hydrogen has attracted extensive attention as a potential alternative energy and many achievements have been made in the research of transition metal phosphide catalysts, but further improvements are still strongly demanded. In this report, we propose a novel strategy for the template-free synthesis of Mo3P/MoP porous nanobelts as efficient catalysts for hydrogen generation. The porous structures can give more active sites, and the presence of Mo3P can further improve the internal electron transfer ability through the strong bond. Thus, the porous Mo3P/MoP hybrid catalyst exhibits an outstanding hydrogen evolution activity and a good stability. This study may provide a facile and effective strategy for the improvement of transition metal phosphide catalysts by controlling the structures and compositions.