Anchoring zero valence single atoms of nickel and iron on graphdiyne for hydrogen evolution.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29654234.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-03896-4 and PMC identifier 5899097.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Electrocatalysis by atomic catalysts is a major focus of chemical and energy conversion effort. Although transition-metal-based bulk electrocatalysts for electrochemical application on energy conversion processes have been reported frequently, anchoring the stable transition-metal atoms (e.g. nickel and iron) still remains a practical challenge. Here we report a strategy for fabrication of ACs comprising only isolated nickel/iron atoms anchored on graphdiyne. Our findings identify the very narrow size distributions of both nickel (1.23 Å) and iron (1.02 Å), typical sizes of single-atom nickel and iron. The precision of this method motivates us to develop a general approach in the field of single-atom transition-metal catalysis. Such atomic catalysts have high catalytic activity and stability for hydrogen evolution reactions.