Developing noble-metal-free electrocatalysts with highly active for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) plays a vital role in the future hydrogen economy. Herein, a self-supported mesoporous bitungsten carbide nanoplates electrode (W2C/W) is in situ fabricated onto tungsten substrate by an anodization followed by a reduction and carbonization process. The W2C/W electrodes form a sandwich structure with an outer layer constituted of W2C nanoplates and an inner core of W plate, and the nanoplates are composed of nanoparticles and mesopores. The as-fabricated W2C/W electrode exhibits superior HER performance in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution in terms of a low overpotential of similar to 132 mV at the cathodic current density of 10 mA cm(-2), and it also shows outstanding long-term durability after a 10 h test in acidic solution, which indicate that W2C/W electrodes hold great potential in direct HER application for their low overpotential and high electrocatalytic stability. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.