Abstract

Development of nonnoble metal catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical to enable an efficient production of hydrogen at low cost and large scale. In this work, a novel bimetallic carbide nanostructure consisting of Mo 2 C and WC is synthesized. Based on a highly conductive WC backbone, nanosized Mo 2 C particles are integrated onto WC, forming a well‐defined and highly robust nanowire structure. More importantly, it is found that electrochemical activation can partially remove surface carbon and activate the catalyst by changing its surface hydrophilicity. As a result, the residual carbon contributes positively to the activity, besides its role of protecting carbide from oxidation. Benefiting from the structure, the catalyst achieves high activity, stable electrolysis towards HER.