Molybdenum Oxycarbide Supported Rh-Clusters with Modulated Interstitial C-O Microenvironments for Promoting Hydrogen Evolution

Tuning the microenvironment and electronic structure of support materials is essential strategy to induce electron transfer between supports and active centers, which is of great importance in optimizing catalytic kinetics. In this study, the molybdenum oxycarbide supported Rh-clusters are synthesized with modulated interstitial C-O microenvironments (Rh/MoOC) for promoting efficient hydrogen evolution in water splitting. Both electronic structure characterizations and theoretical calculations uncover the apparent charge transfer from Rh to MoOC, which optimizes the d-band center, H₂ O adsorption energy, and hydrogen binding energy, thus enhancing its intrinsic hydrogen-evolving activities. In addition, the co-occurrence of interstitial C and O atoms in MoOC supports plays a vital role in the dissociation reaction of water during the hydrogen-evolving process. Impressively, the Rh/MoOC exhibits excellent hydrogen-evolving activities in terms of exceptional turnover frequency values (11.4 and 39.41 H₂ s^-1 in alkaline and acidic media) and mass activities (21.3 and 73.87 A mg^-1 in alkaline and acidic media) at an overpotential of 100 mV, which is more than 40 times higher than that of the benchmark commercial Rh/C catalysts. This work sheds new light on designing water dissociation materials that surpasses most of the reported catalysts.