Confining Sub-Nanometer Pt Clusters in Hollow Mesoporous Carbon Spheres for Boosting Hydrogen Evolution Activity.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31879997.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1002/adma.201901349.
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Abstract
Electrochemical water splitting is considered as a promising approach to produce clean and sustainable hydrogen fuel. As a new class of nanomaterials with high ratio of surface atoms and tunable composition and electronic structure, metal clusters are promising candidates as catalysts. Here, a new strategy is demonstrated to synthesize active and stable Pt-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution by confining Pt clusters in hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (Pt<sub>5</sub> /HMCS). Such a structure would effectively stabilize the Pt clusters during the ligand removal process, leading to remarkable electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen production in both acidic and alkaline solutions. Particularly, the optimal Pt<sub>5</sub> /HMCS electrocatalyst exhibits 12 times the mass activity of Pt in commercial Pt/C catalyst with similar Pt loading. This study exemplifies a simple yet effective approach to improve the cost effectiveness of precious-metal-based catalysts with stabilized metal clusters.