i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 5 ) 1 e6

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he

Porous and single-crystalline-like molybdenum

nitride nanobelts as a non-noble electrocatalyst for
alkaline fuel cells and electrode materials for
supercapacitors

J. Liu a,b,**, K. Huang c, H.L. Tang d, M. Lei c,*

a
Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
b
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410083, China
c
State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications & School of Science, Beijing University
of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China
d
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of
Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

article info abstract

Article history: Replacing precious and nondurable Pt catalysts with cheap materials is a key issue for
Received 13 August 2015 commercialization of fuel cells. Intriguing transition metal nitrides (TMNs) have attracted
Received in revised form great attentions as promising economic alternatives to Pt catalysts due to their noble
26 October 2015 metal-like properties. However, most of as-synthesized TMNs are nanoparticles until now.
Accepted 17 November 2015 Clearly, the practical catalytic activities of such materials have hitherto been intrinsically
Available online xxx restricted by the relatively small surface area and poor crystallinity of nanoparticles. Here,
highly porous and “single-crystal-like” Mo2N nanobelts with high density of nanopores
Keywords: have been synthesized on gram-scale. These novel Mo2N nanobelts exhibited high elec-
Porous Mo2N nanobelts trocatalytic activity in alkaline electrolyte even better than that of other non-Pt materials
Oxygen reduction reactions and appear to be promising Pt-free cathodic electrocatalysts in alkaline fuel cells.
AFCs This discovery reveals a new type of metal nitride ORR catalyst and appear to be promising
Supercapacitors Pt-free cathodic electrocatalysts in alkaline fuel cells.
Copyright © 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.

high efficiency, low cost and environmental benignity. Fuel

Introduction cells and supercapacitors as promising energy conversion and
storage units have been widely studied for applications in
Increasing energy demands have stimulated intense research stationary power sources and battery powered electric vehi-
on alternative energy conversion and storage systems with cles [1]. However, the fact that their performance requires

* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ86 10 62282050.

** Corresponding author. Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia. Tel./
fax: þ86 10 62282050.
E-mail addresses: liujun4982004@csu.edu.cn (J. Liu), minglei@bupt.edu.cn (M. Lei).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.086
0360-3199/Copyright © 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Liu J, et al., Porous and single-crystalline-like molybdenum nitride nanobelts as a non-noble elec-
trocatalyst for alkaline fuel cells and electrode materials for supercapacitors, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2015), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.086
2 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 5 ) 1 e6
continuous improvement, has encouraged ever greater sci-
entific efforts toward the search for new materials that could
replace the current state-of-the-art materials.
Catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) are at the
heart of key renewable-energy technologies for fuel cells [2,3].
Pt and its alloys remain the most efficient ORR catalysts, but
the high cost and scarcity of Pt hamper further development
of fuel cell technologies based on these materials. Although a
broad range of alternative catalysts based on nonprecious
metals (Fe, Co, etc.), metal oxides (Fe2O3, Fe3O4, Co3O4, IrO2,
etc.), nitrogen-coordinated metal on carbon, and metal-free
doped carbon materials have been actively pursued [4], the
development of novel non-noble catalysts which can substi-
tute platinum-based catalysts are strongly required.
The most widely used active supercapacitor electrode
materials are carbon, conducting polymers or transition metal
oxides (TMOs) [5]. TMOs characterized by their low-cost
and high specific capacitance (such as, MnO2 generally with
the capacitance of 100e160 F/g [6], MoO2 with a capacitance of
140 F/g [7]), have attracted significant interest as active elec-
trode materials for supercapacitors instead of carbon. How-
ever, their poor electrical conductivity and mechanical issues
such as low structural stability exist for TMO electrodes [6],
often resulting in degraded long-term electrochemical cycla-
bility and limited rate capability.
Intriguing transition metal nitrides (TMNs) have been
widely studied due to their scientific and technological
importance [8]. The band structure of TMNs is qualitatively
similar to those of fcc transition metals in the shape and
relative ordering of the bands. For the transition metals, the
d-band begins to fill from Ru and Os to Pd and Pt. This
coincidence of the band structure seems responsible for the
observed similarity in catalytic properties between Group 4e6
TMNs and the Group 8e10 transition metals [8]. The elec-
tronic structure strongly related with properties of TMNs
studied by various spectroscopic techniques. Thus, the filled
states of d-band were narrowed after formation of nitrides,
resulting in the similar electronic structure of noble metals
up to the Fermi level. On the other hand, at energies above
the Fermi level, the width of the unfilled states of the metal
was found to be broadened because of the TMNs formation,
giving rise to a greater density of empty levels for TMNs than
those of the parent metal. Due to the deficiency in the d-band
occupation near the Fermi level, nitride surfaces could have a
reduced ability to donate d-electrons to adsorbates. There-
fore, high reactivities of early transition metals are explained
by the formation of nitrides for reactions involving the
donation of electrons from the metal catalysts to absorbate.
The broadened unfilled portion of the d-band should make
these nitrides better electronic acceptors than both the
parent metals and the Pt Group metals. Thus for reactions
that involve the donation of bonding electrons to the unfilled
orbitals of the metal substrate, nitride catalysts might be
more efficient than both parent metals and Pt Group metals,
such as, Cu3N nanocubes as promising Pt-free cathodic
electrocatalysts for alkaline fuel cells (AFCs) [9], and Mo2N/C
as Pt-free cathodic electrocatalysts for proton exchange
membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) [10]. Some TMNs (such as, VN,
MoNx TiN, and WN) have been also attracted great attentions
as replacements for MnO2 and RuO2 in supercapacitor
Please cite this article in press as: Liu J, et al., Porous and single-crystalline-like molybdenum nitride nanobelts as a non-noble elec-
trocatalyst for alkaline fuel cells and electrode materials for supercapacitors, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2015), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.086
electrodes because of their high conductivity, low cost and
high chemical resistance [8].
As well known, material surfaces play an important role in
the catalytic activity and capacitance. The effective integra-
tion of high surface areas and good crystallinity is expected to
be very effective in promoting their catalytic activity and
capacitance. However, unlike metal oxides and main group
metal nitrides with rich nanostructure morphologies, most of
as-synthesized TMNs are nanoparticles until now [8]. Clearly,
the practical catalytic activity and capacitance of such mate-
rials have hitherto been intrinsically restricted by the rela-
tively small surface area and poor crystallinity of
nanoparticles. Therefore, it is highly desirable to accomplish
TMN nanostructures with high surface area and good crys-
tallinity to enhance their catalytic activities and improve their
capacitances for supercapacitors.
Herein, we successfully synthesize gram-scale, highly
porous and “single-crystal-like” [11] Mo2N nanobelts with high
density of ultra-fine nanopores by topotactic chemical trans-
formation from single crystal MoO3 nanobelts. Although
traditional solid-state nitriding reaction using micrometer- or
larger-sized powders is known to be a brute-force technique
for the synthesis of many porous metal nitride materials [12],
it has disadvantages: it requires diffusion over long distance;
large strain nucleation barriers must be overcome; the pore
sizes are large; and the microstructure of the final materials is
difficult to control. However, these disadvantages might be
ameliorated or eliminated by using nanocrystalline materials
as starting reactants. For example, ZnO NWs have been con-
verted into single-crystalline ZnAl2O4 spinel nanotubes via
solid-state reaction [13]. In our work, single crystal MoO3
nanobelts have been converted into highly porous and single-
crystalline-like Mo2N nanobelts via a slowly nitrided solid-
state reaction. Such single-crystal-like Mo2N nanobelts are
here reported as promising Pt-free cathodic electrocatalysts in
alkaline fuel cells for the first time, exhibiting high electro-
catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction. Highly porous
Mo2N nanobelts also exhibited high rate capability, high spe-
cific capacitance of 160 F/g (higher than those of MnO2
generally with the capacitance of 100e160 F/g [6], or MoO2
with a capacitance of 140 F/g [7]), and good cycling stability,
even at the high scanning rate of 100 mV s1, as super-
capacitor electrode materials. The high catalytic activity and
capacitance may result from its novel nanostructures with the
effective integration of their high surface area and good
crystallinity. This discovery reveals a new type of metal
nitride ORR catalyst and appear to be promising Pt-free
cathodic electrocatalysts in alkaline fuel cells.
Experimental
Single-crystal-like Mo2N nanobelts with high density of ultra-
fine nanopores were easily obtained by a two-step route. The
first step is gram-scale synthesis of single-crystalline and
uniform MoO3 nanobelts. In a typical synthesis, MoO3 powder
(2 g, 99.99%, Sigma Aldrich) and 20 mL of 30% H2O2 (Sigma
Aldrich) were mixed under vigorous magnetic stirring over-
night until the solution was clear yellow, and then 20 mL H2O
was added to the solution before transferring to a 120 mL
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 5 ) 1 e6
Teflon™ liner. The liner with its contents was then assembled
into an autoclave and kept in an oven at 190  C for 12 h. The
product was washed with anhydrous ethanol and distilled
water several times. Finally, it was dried at 80  C in vacuum for
12 h. The second step is the synthesis of highly porous single-
crystalline Mo2N nanobelts transformed from single-
crystalline MoO3 nanobelts. In a typical run, single-
crystalline MoO3 nanobelts were slowly nitrided at 600  C for
2 h under the mixed gas (10% NH3 and 90% N2) flow at 500
standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm) and normal
pressure. The heating rate of MoO3 nanobelts are 20  C per
minute from room temperature to 600  C.
For the supercapacitance tests, the Mo2N nanobelts were
mixed with acetylene black and poly (vinylidene fluoride) in
an 8:1:1 ratio. N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone was used as a solvent to
form homogeneous slurry, which was then pasted on a 1 cm2
piece of steel mesh and dried under vacuum at 60  C for 24 h.
Capacitance tests were run in an open beaker with a 3 elec-
trode setup. The reference electrode used was Ag/AgCl (satu-
rated KCl), the counter electrode was platinum foil
(1.5 cm  1.5 cm), and the electrolyte was 1 M H2SO4. All the
tests were performed on a CHI660C workstation.
Results and discussion
Synthesis of porous Mo2N nanobelts is based on slowly
nitriding MoO3 nanobelts, and is schematically displayed in
Fig. 1. Such a solid-state nitriding reaction has been reported
to synthesize porous Mo2N micropowders and microfibers
[14,15]. Compared to these previous works, our products, the
Mo2N nanobelts, have a high density of ultra-fine nanopores
due to the short diffusion distance and the low synthesis
temperature in the reaction using nanomaterials as starting
reactants. Since the atom diffusion distance is short and small
strain nucleation barriers should be overcome in the reaction
using nanomaterials as starting reactants, the synthesis
temperature will be relatively low and the morphology can
be well controlled. Although the synthesis temperature is
Fig. 1 e Schematic diagram of the procedure used to fabricate single-crystalline-like Mo2N nanobelts with high density of
ultra-fine nanopores.
Please cite this article in press as: Liu J, et al., Porous and single-crystalline-like molybdenum nitride nanobelts as a non-noble elec-
trocatalyst for alkaline fuel cells and electrode materials for supercapacitors, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2015), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.086
3
relatively low at 600  C, synthesized product is pure stable
phase Mo2N and no metastable phase MoN in it. If the syn-
thesis temperature is lower than 600  C, we found that the
synthesized product consisted stable phase Mo2N and meta-
stable phase MoN. The synthesized Mo2N nanobelt is not a
polycrystalline nanobelt, but a single-crystal-like nanobelt
[11]. Gram-scale synthesis of uniform and monodisperse
MoO3 nanobelts was achieved by a solvothermal method,
which is shown in the experimental section.
Fig. SI-1(a) (shown in the Supporting Information) shows x-
ray diffraction patterns (XRD) of the products in the first step
(a) and the second step (b). The XRD pattern of the products in
the first step can be well indexed to an orthorhombic cell with
a ¼ 3.9418  A, b ¼ 13.8137 
A and c ¼ 3.6842 
A, in good agreement
with the standard data (ICDD-PDF 05-0508), confirming
that the products obtained in the first step are MoO3 with an
orthorhombic structure. As shown in Fig. SI-1(b), the XRD
pattern of the products obtained in the second step can be
well indexed to a cubic cell with a ¼ b ¼ c ¼ 4.163  A, in good
agreement with the standard data (ICDD-PDF 25-1366),
Moreover, Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) reveals that
the products consist of the elements Mo and N, and the atom
ratio is 2:1, showing in Fig. SI-2. These results can confirm that
these products are pure Mo2N with a cubic structure. The full
width at half maximum (FWHM) of each peak of Mo2N is larger
than that of MoO3.
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images in Fig. SI-
3(a), (b), (c), and (d) show that the products synthesized by the
solvothermal method consist of a large amount of MoO3
nanobelts with a uniform thickness of about 40 nm. The
transmission electron microscope (TEM) images in Fig. SI-4
indicate that these MoO3 nanobelts are single crystals with
excellent crystallinity and grow along the [001] direction. The
SEM images in Fig. 2(a) and Fig. SI-5 show that the nitrided
samples retain the size and shape of the precursor. The
disordered mesoporous structure is clearly shown by the TEM
images in Fig. 2(b) and Fig. SI-6; nevertheless, a selected-area
electron diffraction (SAED) pattern recorded on the crystal
(inset) shows a diffraction pattern of single-crystal cubic Mo2N
4 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 5 ) 1 e6

Fig. 2 e (a) SEM image, and (b) TEM image and corresponding SAED pattern (inset) of as-synthesized porous Mo2N nanobelts.

along the [001] zone axis. HRTEM image (Fig. SI-6d) further
shows the single-crystal lattices with embedded 2e5 nm
mesopores. Nevertheless, to distinguish such crystals from
the traditional single crystals, we termed these crystals
“single-crystal-like” crystals [10]. Compared to the specific
surface areas of some reported metal nitride nanoparticles,
such as Mo2N nanoparticles with a specific surface area below
12 m2 g1 [16,17], TaN nanoparticles with a specific surface
area up to 61 m2 g1 [18], and AlN nanoparticles with a specific
surface area up to 36.4 m2 g1 [19], BrunauereEmmetteTeller
(BET) analysis of the porous Mo2N nanobelts yields a specific
surface area up to 197.4 m2 g1. The pore size distribution of
the porous Mo2N nanobelt sample ranged from 1.8 nm to
10 nm, and from 100 nm to 250 nm, with a maximum at
3.4 nm, as shown in the inset of Fig. SI-7. The pores ranging
from 1.8 nm to 10 nm correspond to the small pores formed in
Mo2N nanobelts, but the pores ranging from 100 nm to 250 nm
correspond to the holes between the different Mo2N
nanobelts.
Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of porous Mo2N
nanobelts is performed using cyclic voltammetry (CVs) in N2
and O2 saturated 0.1 M aqueous KOH electrolyte solutions
with scan rate of 100 mV s1 (Fig. 3(a)). No significant peak
oxidation or reduction current peak is observed in the CV
curve recorded from N2 saturated solution, indicating that the
novel catalyst is electrochemically stable over the entire
potential range (0.5eþ0.5 V vs. Hg/HgO). These results differ
from other reports on non-noble ORR catalysts such as FeeN/
C containing instable metal ions that present redox couples in
the electrochemical range [20]. The CV curve recorded from O2
saturated solution exhibited a pronounced electrocatalytic
activity associated with an ORR onset potential at about
0.03 V vs Hg/HgO. The cathodic current density achieved a
high value of 2.96 mA cm2 at 0.17 V vs Hg/HgO, better than
that of other non-Pt materials, such as three-dimensional N-
doped graphene aerogel-supported Fe3O4 nanoparticles [21],
TiN nanoparticles supported on the CNTegraphene hybrid
[22] and cubic Cu3N nanocrystals [9].
Subsequently, to examine the ORR kinetics and the corre-
sponding kinetic parameters for the novel Mo2N nanobelts,
linear sweep voltammograms (LSVs) were recorded at various
electrode rotation rates from 400 to 2000 rpm, in an O2 satu-
rated solution with a rotating disk electrode (RDE) (Fig. 3(b)).
The current shows the typical increase with rotation rate due
to the shortened diffusion layer. At the potential range of
0.03 to 0.08 V vs. Hg/HgO, the disk current density (id) dis-
played purely electrochemical kinetic current densities inde-
pendent on the electrode rotation rate. The exchange current
density (io) calculated through a Tafel equation is about
8.2  107 A/cm2. The number of electrons transferred (n) is
calculated to be ~2.35 at 0.2 to 0.5 V vs. Hg/HgO from the
slopes of the Koutecky-Levichplots [23], suggesting that the

Fig. 3 e (a) Cyclic voltammetry of porous Mo2N nanobelts as ORR catalysts in N2-saturated 0.1 M KOH. Scan rate: 100 mV s¡1;
(b) Linear sweep voltammograms of porous Mo2N nanobelts as ORR catalysts in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH at different rotating
disk electrode rotation rates. Scan rate: 10 mV s¡1.

Please cite this article in press as: Liu J, et al., Porous and single-crystalline-like molybdenum nitride nanobelts as a non-noble elec-
trocatalyst for alkaline fuel cells and electrode materials for supercapacitors, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2015), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.086
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 5 ) 1 e6
ORR catalyzed by the porous Mo2N nanobelts is a mixed pro-
cess of 2- and 4-electron transfer.
The cycling stability of the porous Mo2N nanobelts as
supercapacitor electrode material is demonstrated in Fig. 4(a).
It is interesting that the decay in specific capacitance based on
this maximum value (160 Fg1) after a 1000-cycle test is only
9%, even at the high scan rate of 100 mV1. Although the
capacitance of porous Mo2N nanobelts for supercapacitors is
lower than those of NiO with a capacitance of 585 F/g [24] and
Co3O4 with a capacitance of 599 F/g [25], it is still higher than
those of MnO2 generally with the capacitance of 100e160 F/g
[6], or MoO2 with a capacitance of 140 F/g [7]. Most impor-
tantly, such porous Mo2N nanobelts exhibit extremely high
rate capability as supercapacitor electrodes, which is exhibi-
ted in the CV curves at scanning rates from 5 to 100 mV1
(Fig. 4(b)). Generally, the specific capacitance will decrease
with increasing scan rate in metal oxide electrodes, showing a
logarithmic trend [26]. However, there is no decrease for Mo2N
electrodes. The rectangular shape of the CV curves for Mo2N at
high scanning rates is similar to that of carbon nanotubes
(CNTs), and this rectangular shape results from the excellent
conductivity and porous structure of CNTs [27]. Hence, such
Mo2N nanobelts exhibit extremely high rate capability,
Fig. 4 e (a) Cycling behavior of porous Mo2N nanobelts as
supercapacitor electrode material and their CV curves for
selected cycles (inset); (b) Specific capacitance of porous
Mo2N nanobelts under different scan rates and their
corresponding CV curves (inset).
Please cite this article in press as: Liu J, et al., Porous and single-crystalline-like molybdenum nitride nanobelts as a non-noble elec-
trocatalyst for alkaline fuel cells and electrode materials for supercapacitors, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2015), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.086
5
possibly because of their high conductivity and highly porous
framework structure, which facilitate the electrolyte pene-
tration and provide very efficient pathways for ion and elec-
tron transportation. The porous framework with high surface
area and good crystallinity could also help to maintain the
integrity of the material structure during charge/discharge
cycling and therefore, contribute to the excellent cycling
performance of the Mo2N electrode.
Conclusions
As a summary, we report that gram-scale synthesis of highly
porous and single-crystal-like Mo2N nanobelts with high
density of nanopores. This strategy only involves a slowly
nitrided reaction using MoO3 nanobelts as starting reactants.
These novel Mo2N nanobelts exhibited high electrocatalytic
activity toward ORR and appear to be promising Pt-free
cathodic electrocatalysts in alkaline fuel cells. Such Mo2N
nanostructures also exhibited high specific capacitance
(160 Fg1), high rate capability and high cycling stability as
supercapacitor electrode materials. The high catalytic activity
and capacitance may result from its novel nanostructures
with the effective integration of their high surface area and
good crystallinity. This discovery reveals a new type of metal
nitride ORR catalyst and appear to be promising Pt-free
cathodic electrocatalysts in alkaline fuel cells. We believe
that this involved strategy may be also extended to the prep-
aration of other TMNs with highly porous and single-crystal-
like nanobelts, such as Cu3N, TiN, WN and VN, to enhance
their catalytic activities and capacitances.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the Australian Research Council
through a Discovery Project (DP1094261), the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (grant No. 51202297, 51472271
and 61376018), and Program for New Century Excellent Tal-
ents in University (NCET-12-0554, NCET-13-0684). We thank
Dr. Tania Silver for the English editing of this paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.086.
references
[1] Winter M, Brodd RJ. What are batteries, fuel cells, and
supercapacitors? Chem Rev 2004;104:4245.
[2] Bashyam R, Zelenay P. A class of non-precious metal
composite catalysts for fuel cells. Nature 2006;443:63.
[3] Lei M, Wang J, Li JR, Wang YG, Tang HL, Wang WJ. Emerging
methanol-tolerant AlN nanowire oxygen reduction
electrocatalyst for alkaline direct methanol fuel cell. Sci Rep
2014;4:6013.
6 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 5 ) 1 e6
[4] Liang YY, Li YG, Wang HL, Zhou JG, Wang J, Regier T, et al.
Co3O4 nanocrystals on graphene as a synergistic catalyst for
oxygen reduction reaction. Nat Mater 2011;10:780.
[5] Soudan P, Gaudet J, Guay D, Belanger D, Schulz R.
Electrochemical properties of ruthenium-based
nanocrystalline materials as electrodes for supercapacitors.
Chem Mater 2002;14:1210e5.
[6] Wei WF, Cui XW, Chen WX, Ivey DG. Manganese oxide-based
materials as electrochemical supercapacitor electrodes.
Chem Soc Rev 2001;40:1697.
[7] Rajeswari J, Pilli SK, Viswanathan B, Varadarajan TK. One-
dimensional MoO2 nanorods for supercapacitor applications.
Electrochem Commun 2009;11:572.
[8] Mazumder B, Hector AL. Synthesis and applications of
nanocrystalline nitride materials. J Mater Chem 2009;19:4673.
[9] Wu HB, Chen W. Copper nitride nanocubes: size-controlled
synthesis and application as cathode catalyst in alkaline fuel
cells. J Am Chem Soc 2011;133:15236.
[10] Zhong HX, Zhang HM, Liu G, Liang YM, Hu JW, Yi BL. A novel
non-noble electrocatalyst for PEM fuel cell based on
molybdenum nitride. Electrochem Commun 2006;8:707.
[11] Bian ZF, Zhu J, Wen J, Cao FL, Huo YN, Qian XF, et al. Single-
crystal-like titania mesocages. Angew Chem Int Ed
2011;123:1137.
[12] Schoen DT, Peng HL, Cui Y. Anisotropy of chemical
transformation from In2Se3 to CuInSe2 nanowires through
solid state reaction. J Am Chem Soc 2009;131:7973.
[13] Fan HJ, Knez M, Scholz R, Nielsch K, Pippel E, Hesse D, et al.
Monocrystalline spinel nanotube fabrication based on the
Kirkendall effect. Nat Mater 2006;5:627.
[14] Jaggers CH, Michaels JN, Stacy AM. Preparation of high-
surface-area transition-metal nitrides: molybdenum
nitrides, Mo2N and MoN. Chem Mater 1990;2:150.
[15] Dewangan K, Patil SS, Joag DS, More MA, Gajbhiye NS.
Topotactical nitridation of a-MoO3 fibers to g-Mo2N fibers and
its field emission properties. J Phys Chem C 2010;114:14710.
[16] Li SZ, Kim WB, Lee JS. Effect of the reactive gas on the solid-
state transformation of molybdenum trioxide to carbides
and nitrides. Chem Mater 1998;10:1853.
Please cite this article in press as: Liu J, et al., Porous and single-crystalline-like molybdenum nitride nanobelts as a non-noble elec-
trocatalyst for alkaline fuel cells and electrode materials for supercapacitors, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2015), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.086
[17] Giordano C, Erpen C, Yao WT, Milke B, Antonietti M. Metal
nitride and metal carbide nanoparticles by a soft urea
pathway. Chem Mater 2009;21:5136.
[18] Yuliati L, Yang JH, Wang XC, Maeda K, Takata T,
Antonietti M, et al. Highly active tantalum (v) nitride
nanoparticles prepared from a mesoporous carbon nitride
template for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible
light irradiation. J Mater Chem 2010;20:4295.
[19] Suehiro T, Hirosaki N. Synthesis of aluminum nitride
nanopowder by gas-reduction-nitridation method. J Am
Chem Soc 2003;86:1046.
[20] Winther-Jensen B, Winther-Jensen O, Forsyth M,
Macfarlane DR. High rates of oxygen reduction over a
vapor phaseepolymerized PEDOT electrode. Science
2008;321:671.
[21] Wu ZS, Yang SB, Sun Y, Parvez K, Feng XL, Mullen K. 3D
nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel-supported Fe3O4
nanoparticles as efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen
reduction reaction. J Am Chem Soc 2012;134:9082.
[22] Youn DH, Bae GH, Han SH, Kim JY, Jang JW, Park HM, et al. A
highly efficient transition metal nitride-based electrocatalyst
for oxygen reduction reaction: TiN on a CNTegraphene
hybrid support. J Mater Chem A 2013;1:8007.
[23] Bard AJ, Faulkner LR. Electrochemical methods:
fundamentals and applications. Wiley; 2001.
[24] Cao CY, Guo W, Cui ZM, Song WG, Cai W. Microwave-
assisted gas/liquid interfacial synthesis of flowerlike NiO
hollow nanosphere precursors and their application as
supercapacitor electrodes. J Mater Chem 2011;21:3204.
[25] Xia XH, Tu JP, Mai YJ, Wang XL, Gu CD, Zhao XB. Self-
supported hydrothermal synthesized hollow Co3O4
nanowire arrays with high supercapacitor capacitance. J
Mater Chem A 2011;21:9319.
[26] Choi D, Blomgren GE, Kumta PN. Fast and reversible surface
redox reaction in nanocrystalline vanadium nitride
supercapacitors. Adv Mater 2006;18:1178.
[27] Du CS, Pan N. High power density supercapacitor electrodes
of carbon nanotube films by electrophoretic deposition.
Nanotechnology 2006;17:5314.