Engineering Cu-W2C heterostructures via rapid solid-phase hot-pressing-pyrolysis for efficient hydrogen evolution

The development of highly efficient catalysts for hydrogen production via water electrolysis is crucial for advancing hydrogen energy applications. This study successfully synthesized a Cu-W 2 C heterostructure supported on carbon nanofibers (Cu-W 2 C /CNFs) using a combined solid-phase hot-pressing and pyrolysis strategy. The prepared Cu-W 2 C/CNFs catalyst exhibits outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction performance, achieving a current density of 10 mA cm −2 in alkaline pure water and simulated seawater with overpotentials of only 89 and 102 mV, respectively. The catalyst maintains good stability after 100 h of continuous operation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the Cu-W 2 C heterostructure effectively optimizes the Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption. Strong synergistic interactions at the heterointerface induce significant interfacial charge redistribution, thereby enhancing HER catalytic activity. This study provides guidance for synthesizing non-precious metal/carbon electrocatalysts via solid-phase hot-pressing technology.