Atomic-thick metastable phase RhMo nanosheets for hydrogen oxidation catalysis.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36997541.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-37406-y and PMC identifier 10063647.
- 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
Metastable phase two-dimensional catalysts provide great flexibility for modifying their chemical, physical, and electronic properties. However, the synthesis of ultrathin metastable phase two-dimensional metallic nanomaterials is highly challenging, mainly due to the anisotropic nature of metallic materials and their thermodynamically unstable ground-state. Here, we report free-standing RhMo nanosheets with atomic thickness and a unique core/shell (metastable phase/stable phase) structure. The polymorphic interface between the core region and shell region stabilizes and activates metastable phase catalysts; the RhMo Nanosheets/C shows excellent hydrogen oxidation activity and stability. Specifically, the mass activities of RhMo Nanosheets/C is 6.96 A mg<sub>Rh</sub><sup>-1</sup>; this is 21.09 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.33 A mg<sub>Pt</sub><sup>-1</sup>). Density functional theory calculations suggest that the interface aids in the dissociation of H<sub>2</sub> and the H species can then spillover to weak H binding sites for desorption, providing excellent hydrogen oxidation activity for RhMo nanosheets. This work advances the highly controlled synthesis of two-dimensional metastable phase noble metals and provides great directions for the design of high-performance catalysts for fuel cells and beyond.