Hydrogen Evolution Reaction on Single-Atom Pt Doped in Ni Matrix under Strong Alkaline Condition

Xiurui An; Ting-Ting Yao; Yang Liu; Guifa Long; Aoqi Wang; Zhendong Feng; Michel Dupuis; Can Li

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02142

Hydrogen Evolution Reaction on Single-Atom Pt Doped in Ni Matrix under Strong Alkaline Condition

J Phys Chem Lett. 2023 Sep 14;14(36):8121-8128. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02142. Epub 2023 Sep 5.

Authors

Xiurui An^{1

2}, Ting-Ting Yao^{1

2}, Yang Liu^{1

2}, Guifa Long³, Aoqi Wang^{1

4}, Zhendong Feng^{1

2}, Michel Dupuis⁵, Can Li^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023 Dalian, China.
² Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
³ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Engineering of Forest Products, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi Minzu University, 530008 Nanning, China.
⁴ Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, 230026 Hefei China.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, 14260 Buffalo, United States.

PMID: 37668656
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02142

Abstract

Pt catalyst has been considered as the state-of-the-art catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under acid condition. However, its catalytic kinetics under alkaline conditions is not well-understood. Herein, we report a Ni-Pt(SAs) (SAs = single atoms) catalyst with Pt atomically dispersed in a Ni matrix, and it possesses an impressive HER performance with an overpotential as low as 210 mV at 500 mA cm^-2 in strong alkaline electrolyte (7 M KOH), which is much higher than Pt nanoparticle-modified Ni catalyst (Ni-Pt(NPs)). Kinetics analysis reveals that Pt doping in the Ni matrix can accelerate the Volmer step on the Ni-Pt surface. Moreover, Ni-Pt(SAs) displays a more favorable kinetics for H₂ formation reaction at high current density than Ni-Pt(NPs). Theoretical calculations reveal that atomically dispersed Pt weakens the adsorption of both H and OH on the surface of Ni-Pt electrode and promotes H₂ formation from surface H on Ni-Pt(SAs).