Ag nanoparticles wrapped by N-doped carbon as an efficient electricatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

In this paper, Ag nanoparticles wrapped by N-doped carbon (Ag@NC) was successfully synthesized via a simple aging-pyrolysis-replacement strategy by using PVP/ZIF-8 as precursor. The synthesized Ag@NC was used as electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). After being carefully researched, Ag@NC exhibits excellent HER activity with a low onset potential of 189 mV and a small Tafel slope of 68.62 mV dec−1. Ag@NC also shows outstanding long-term stability. The superior HER performance of Ag@NC may be attributed to the synergistic effects between the Ag nanoparticles and N-doped carbon matrix. Ag@NC is expected to be used in the energy chemistry field.