Highly Conductive Amorphous Pentlandite Anchored with Ultrafine Platinum Nanoparticles for Efficient pH-Universal Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

The devise and fabrication of highly efficient electrocatalysts have momentous practical significance for the development of future hydrogen energy systems. However, their potential uses in support construction are not well studied. In this work, a highly efficient electrocatalyst is developed for the hydrogen evolution reaction by anchoring single Pt atoms and clusters into functional amorphous pentlandite Fe5Ni4S8 (or FNS) to yield Pt-FNS composites. Amorphous FNS still provides great conductivity to the composites, thereby promoting rapid charge transfer. The presence of abundant defects in Pt-FNS composite catalysts induces pleasant atomic dispersion and anchoring of Pt species. In addition, the formation of single Pt atoms combined with clusters and low-Pt-loading improves the utilization of Pt and reduces the cost. The turnover frequency analysis suggests Pt-FNS systems possess significant unit catalytic activity. The synergetic catalytic effect issued from high conductivity, abundant active sites and elevated intrinsic activity forms Pt-FNS systems with efficient pH-universal catalytic activity. The systems exhibit low overpotentials of only 30, 65, and 98 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) under acidic, alkaline, and neutral conditions, respectively. In sum, the proposed route looks promising for the fabrication of new electrocatalysts with improved properties.

Automated summary

The study introduces a highly efficient electrocatalyst by anchoring single Pt atoms and clusters into functional amorphous pentlandite Fe5Ni4S8, forming Pt-FNS composites with excellent conductivity and unit catalytic activity.