Rational Design of Atomic Layers of Pt Anchored on Mo2 C Nanorods for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution over a Wide pH Range

Modification of carbon nanofibers for boosting oxygen electrocatalysis

Oxygen electrocatalysis is a key process for many effective energy conversion techniques, which requires the development of high-performance electrocatalysts. Carbon nanofibers featuring good electronic conductivity, large specific surface area, high axial strength and modulus, and good resistance toward harsh environments have thus been recognized as reinforcements in oxygen electrocatalysis. This review summarizes the recent progress on carbon nanofibers as electrocatalysts for oxygen electrocatalysis, with special focus on the modulation of carbon nanofibers for further elevating their electrocatalytic performance, which includes morphological and structural engineering, surface and pore size distribution, defect engineering, and coupling with other electroactive materials. Additionally, the correlation between the geometrical/electronic structure of their active centers and electrocatalytic activity is systematically discussed. Finally, conclusions and perspectives of this interesting research field are presented, which we hope will provide guidance for the future fabrication of more advanced carbon-fiber-based electrocatalysts.

Scalable Synthesis of Ir Cluster Anchored on Porous Hollow Carbon Nanobowls for Enhancing pH-Universal Hydrogen Evolution

Design high-loading with superior activity and high atomic efficiency has consistently been a new frontier of heterogeneous catalysis while challenging in synthetic technology. In this work, a universal solid-state strategy is proposed for large scalable production of high-loading Ir clusters on porous hollow carbon nanobowls (Ir CSs/PHCNBs). The strong electronic interaction between metallic Ir cluster and C on PHCNBs leads to electron redistribution, which significantly improves the electron transfer rate on the interface. The obtained Ir CSs/PHCNBs only require overpotentials of 35, 34, and 37 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with stable outputting of 10 mA cm-2 under acidic, alkaline, and neutral conditions, respectively, which exceeds the state-of-the-art HER electrocatalysts. Meanwhile, the Tafel slopes of Ir CSs/PHCNBs for the HER process are 23.07, 48.76, and 28.95 mV dec-1 , greatly lower than that of PHCNBs (152.73, 227.96, and 140.29 mV dec-1 ) and commercial Pt/C (20%) (36.33, 66.10, and 36.61 mV dec-1 ). These results provide a new strategy for the universal synthesis of clusters catalysts and insight into understanding the interface effects between clusters and carbon substrate, facilitating the industrial application of hydrogen production.

Synergistically Tuning Surface States of Hierarchical MoC by Pt-N Dual-Doping Engineering for Optimizing Hydrogen Evolution Activity

Catalytic performance can be greatly enhanced by rational modulation of the surface state. In this study, reasonable adjustment of the surface states around the Fermi level (EF ) of molybdenum carbide (MoC) (α phase) via a Pt-N dual-doping process to fabricate an electrocatalyst named as Pt-N-MoC is performed to promote hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance over the MoC surface. Systematically experimental and theoretical analyses demonstrate that the synergistic tuning of Pt and N can cause the delocalization of surface states, with an increase in the density of surface states near the EF . This is beneficial for accumulating and transferring electrons between the catalyst surface and adsorbent, resulting in a positively linear correlation between the density of surface states near the EF and the HER activity. Moreover, the catalytic performance is further enhanced by artificially fabricating a Pt-N-MoC catalyst that has a unique hierarchical structure composed of MoC nanoparticles (0D), nanosheets (2D), and microrods (3D). As expected, the obtained Pt-N-MoC electrocatalyst exhibits superb HER activity with an extremely low overpotential of 39 mV@10 mA cm-2 as well as superb stability (over 24 d) in an alkaline solution. This work highlights a novel strategy to develop efficient electrocatalysts via adjusting their surface states.

Synergistic Effect of Dual-Doped Carbon on Mo2C Nanocrystals Facilitates Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution

Molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) materials are promising electrocatalysts with potential applications in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to low cost and Pt-like electronic structures. Nevertheless, their HER activity is usually hindered by the strong hydrogen binding energy. Moreover, the lack of water-cleaving sites makes it difficult for the catalysts to work in alkaline solutions. Here, we designed and synthesized a B and N dual-doped carbon layer that encapsulated on Mo2C nanocrystals (Mo2C@BNC) for accelerating HER under alkaline condition. The electronic interactions between the Mo2C nanocrystals and the multiple-doped carbon layer endow a near-zero H adsorption Gibbs free energy on the defective C atoms over the carbon shell. Meanwhile, the introduced B atoms afford optimal H2O adsorption sites for the water-cleaving step. Accordingly, the dual-doped Mo2C catalyst with synergistic effect of non-metal sites delivers superior HER performances of a low overpotential (99 mV@10 mA cm-2) and a small Tafel slope (58.1 mV dec-1) in 1 M KOH solution. Furthermore, it presents a remarkable activity that outperforming the commercial 10% Pt/C catalyst at large current density, demonstrating its applicability in industrial water splitting. This study provides a reasonable design strategy towards noble-metal-free HER catalysts with high activity.

New insights into the hydrogen evolution reaction using Ni-ZIF8/67-derived electrocatalysts

One of the present great challenges is finding nonprecious materials characterized by efficient electrocatalytic behavior in order to substitute the expensive platinum-based materials for the purpose of hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs). In this study, ZIF-67 and ZIF-67 were used as precursors in order to fabricate metallic-doped N-enriched carbon successfully through a simple process of pyrolysis for applying the hydrogen evolution reaction. In addition, nickel was added to these structures in the course of the synthesis procedure. While under high-temperature treatment, Nickel doped ZIF-67 was transformed into metallic NiCo doped N enriched carbon (NiCo/NC), under high-temperature treatments, Ni-doped ZIF-8 changed into metallic NiZn doped N enriched carbon (NiZn/NC). By combining metallic precursors, the following five structures were synthesized: NiCo/NC, Co/NC, NiZn/NC, NiCoZn/NC, as well as CoZn/NC. It is noteworthy that the produced Co/NC shows optimum hydrogen evolution reaction activity along with superior overpotential of 97 mV and the minimum Tafel slope of 60 mV/dec at 10 mA cm. In addition, the superb behavior of hydrogen evolution reaction can be attributable to the numerous active sites, the superior electrical conductivity of carbon, and the firm structure. As a result, the present paper suggests a novel strategy in order to produce nonprecious materials characterized by superb HER efficiency for future scholars.

Intensifying Hydrogen Spillover for Boosting Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Hydrogen spillover has attracted increasing interests in the field of electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in recent years because of their distinct reaction mechanism and beneficial terms for simultaneously weakening the strong hydrogen adsorption on metal and strengthening the weak hydrogen adsorption on support. By taking advantageous merits of efficient hydrogen transfer, hydrogen spillover-based binary catalysts have been widely investigated, which paves a new way for boosting the development of hydrogen production by water electrolysis. In this paper, we summarize the recent progress of this interesting field by focusing on the advanced strategies for intensifying the hydrogen spillover towards HER. In addition, the challenging issues and some perspective insights in the future development of hydrogen spillover-based electrocatalysts are also systematically discussed.

Advances in Spin Catalysts for Oxygen Evolution and Reduction Reactions

Searching for high effective catalysts has been an endless effort to improve the efficiency of green energy harvesting and degradation of pollutants. In the past decades, tremendous strategies are explored to achieve high effective catalysts, and various theoretical understandings are proposed for the improved activity. As the catalytic reaction occurs at the surface or edge, the unsaturated ions may lead to the fluctuation of spin. Meanwhile, transition metals in catalysts have diverse spin states and may yield the spin effects. Therefore, the role of spin or magnetic moment should be carefully examined. In this review, the recent development of spin catalysts is discussed to give an insightful view on the origins for the improved catalytic activity. First, a brief introduction on the applications and advances in spin-related catalytic phenomena, is given, and then the fundamental principles of spin catalysts and magnetic fields-radical reactions are introduced in the second part. The spin-related catalytic performance reported in oxygen evolution/reduction reaction (OER/ORR) is systematically discussed in the third part, and general rules are summarized accordingly. Finally, the challenges and perspectives are given. This review may provide an insightful understanding of the microscopic mechanisms of catalytic phenomena and guide the design of spin-related catalysts.

Synergy of Platinum Single Atoms and Platinum Atomic Clusters on Sulfur-Doped Titanium Nitride Nanotubes for Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Highly dispersed Pt, such as Pt single atoms and atomic clusters, has great potential in the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to the high atomic efficiency and unique electronic configuration. Rationally regrating the electronic structure of Pt catalysts is desirable for promoting the HER performance. Herein, a 3D self-supported monolithic electrode consisting of Pt single atoms (Pt_SAs ) and Pt atomic clusters (Pt_ACs ) anchored on sulfur-doped titanium nitride nanotubes (S-TiN NTs) encapsulated in polyaniline (PANI) on Ti mesh (PANI@Pt/S-TiN NTs/Ti) via a facile electrochemical strategy for efficient HER is designed and synthesized. Contributed by the unique structure and composition and the synergy of Pt_SAs , Pt_ACs and S-TiN NTs, the PANI@Pt/S-TiN NTs/Ti electrode exhibits ultrahigh HER activities with only 12, 25 and 39 mV overpotentials at -10 mA cm^-2 in acidic, alkaline and neutral media, respectively, and can maintain a stable performance for 25 h. Impressively, the mass activities are respectively up to 26.1, 22.4, and 17.7 times as that of Pt/C/CC electrode. Theoretical calculation results show that the synergistic effect of Pt_SAs , Pt_ACs , and S-TiN NTs can optimize the electronic structure of Pt and generate multiple active sites with a thermodynamically favorable hydrogen adsorption free energy (ΔG_H* ), thereby resulting in an enhanced HER activity.

Synergistic capture and conversion of polysulfides in cathode composites with multidimensional framework structures

The application of lithium-sulfur batteries are seriously hindered by their poor cycle stability and low sulfur utilization due to their inevitable polysulfide shuttle effect and slow reaction kinetics. Here, Mo₂C nanorods that were surface-decorated with metallic-organic framework-derived nitrogen-doped carbon and ultrasmall cobalt nanoparticles (NC-Co@Mo₂C) were used as the materials for lithium-sulfur battery cathodes. The prepared NC-Co@Mo₂C@S composites had the specific capacity of 1073 mAh·g^-1 (0.2 C) and the retained 806 mAh·g^-1 after 200 cycles, thus showing excellent discharge specific capacity and cycling stability. The Mo₂C nanorods can adsorb lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) through the formation of MoS bonds. Cobalt nanoparticles electrocatalytically accelerated the redox kinetic conversion of LiPSs. Nitrogen doping can effectively reduce the energy potential barrier. The interconnected multidimensional backbone of NC-Co@Mo₂C composites contributed to electrolyte permeation, fast electron/Li⁺ transport, and sufficient volume change buffering. Therefore, the synergistic effect of the adsorption ability of Mo₂C nanorods and the catalytic ability of cobalt nanoparticles can effectively improve the sulfur fixation ability of the composites and greatly suppress the shuttle effect.

Molybdenum Carbide-PtCu Nanoalloy Heterostructures on MOF-Derived Carbon toward Efficient Hydrogen Evolution

In this study, PtCu-Mo₂ C heterostructure with charge redistribution is investigated via first-principles theoretical calculations. Mo₂ C can promote the formation of the electron-rich region of PtCu as an active site, displaying an optimized adsorption behavior toward hydrogen in terms of reduced thermodynamic energy barriers. Owing to the attractive density functional theory calculation results, the PtCu-Mo₂ C heterostructure is fabricated via carbonization of the unique metal-organic framework (MOF) followed by the replacement reduction reaction for the first time. Owing to its swift kinetics and outstanding specific activity, it exhibits high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic activity (26 mV @ 10 mA cm^-2 ) and superior mass activity (1 A mg_Pt ^-1 at -0.04 V) in acidic media, which is approximately six times that of commercial Pt/C catalysts. The perception of the intrinsic activity origin of the alloy with an excellent structural support can guide the development of Pt-based and other alloy catalysts in future.

An acid-base molecular assembly strategy toward N-doped Mo2C@C nanowires with mesoporous Mo2C cores and ultrathin carbon shells for efficient hydrogen evolution

Molybdenum carbides are promising electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Rational design of morphology, composition and interfacial structure in Mo₂C materials is essential to enhance their HER performance. Herein, an acid-base molecular assembly strategy is demonstrated for the synthesis of novel N-doped Mo₂C@C core-shell nanowires (NWs) composed of mesoporous Mo₂C cores with interconnected crystalline walls and ultrathin carbon shells. The strong interactions between the two precursors, adenine (Ade) and phosphomolybdic acid (PMA), lead to the formation of inter-molecular hybrid NWs during a hydrothermal process. The subsequent pyrolysis leads to confined growth of crystalline Mo₂C NWs with inter-crystal mesopores (5 ~ 10 nm), formation of ultrathin carbon shells (~1.5 nm in thickness), and effective N doping. Such a structure architecture can provide abundant active sites, fast and diverse mass and electron transport paths, as well as stable reaction interfaces. The typical N-doped Mo₂C@C NWs exhibit high HER performance with a low overpotential of 136 mV at 10 mA cm^-2, a small Tafel slop of 58 mV dec^-1, excellent durability and outstanding anti-poisoning performance against CO and H₂S gases. Furthermore, the influences of several important factors, including the pyrolysis temperature, hydrothermal temperature and precursor mass ratio, on the morphology, composition and structural configuration of the resulted materials are elucidated and correlated with their HER performance. This work may provide a general strategy for the synthesis of other nanoscale metal carbides for various catalytic applications.

Progress and Perspectives on Covalent-organic Frameworks (COFs) and Composites for Various Energy Applications

Covalent-organic frameworks (COFs), being a new member of the crystalline porous materials family, have emerged as important materials for energy storage/conversion/generation devices. They possess high surface areas, ordered micro/mesopores, designable structures and an ability to precisely control electro-active groups in their pores, which broaden their application window. Thanks to their low weight density, long range crystallinity, reticular nature and tunable synthesis approach towards two and three dimensional (2D and 3D) networks, they have been found suitable for a range of challenging electrochemical applications. Our review focuses on the progress made on the design, synthesis and structure of COFs and their composites for various energy applications, such as metal-ion batteries, supercapacitors, water-splitting and solar cells. Additionally, attempts have been made to correlate the structural and mechanistic characteristics of COFs with their applications.

Synthesis of Ultrathin and Grid-Structural Carbon Nanosheets Coupled with Mo2 C for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Molybdenum carbide possessing a Pt-like d-band electronic structure is considered as one of potential candidates of electrocatalysts and it shows intrinsic catalytic property. However, a high carbonizing temperature easily leads to the coalescence of nanoparticles (NPs). Here, we propose a simple sol-gel route to achieve high dispersity of carbide NPs by designing a Mo-involved xerogel. The results show that molybdenum carbide NPs are dispersed and anchored on the nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets (Mo₂ C@NC). Ultrathin carbon layers resemble graphene and the network structures act as a support of carbide NPs, which can hinder NPs' coalescence effectively. Nanpoparticles cross-coupled on network-structure nanosheets display the grid shapes. Electrochemical studies indicate that Mo₂ C@NC material exhibits outstanding hydrogen evolution performance in alkaline electrolyte.

Nanostructured Molybdenum Oxides from Aluminium-Based Intermetallic Compound: Synthesis and Application in Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Characterized by a large surface area to volume ratio, nanostructured metal oxides possess unique chemical and physical properties with applications in electronics, catalysis, sensors, etc. In this study, Mo₃Al₈, an intermetallic compound, has been used as a precursor to obtain nanostructured molybdenum oxides. It was prepared into ribbons by arc-melting and melt-spinning techniques. Single and double-step free corrosion of the as-quenched material have been studied in 1 M KOH, 1 M HF and 1.25 M FeCl₃ at room temperature. In both cases, nanostructured molybdenum oxides were obtained on a surface layer a few microns thick. Two of the as-prepared samples were tested for their electrocatalytic capability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ giving low onset potential (−50 mV, −45 mV), small Tafel slopes (92 mV dec⁻¹, 9 mV dec⁻¹) and high exchange current densities (0.08 mA cm⁻², 0.35 mA cm⁻² respectively). The proposed nanostructured molybdenum oxides are cost-effective and sustainable due to the cheap and abundant starting material used and the simple synthetic route, paving the way for their possible application as HER electrocatalysts.

Heteroatom-Doping of Non-Noble Metal-Based Catalysts for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution: An Electronic Structure Tuning Strategy

Electrocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production is an appealing way to reduce carbon emissions and generate renewable fuels. This promising process, however, is limited by its sluggish reaction kinetics and high-cost catalysts. Construction of low-cost and high-performance non-noble metal-based catalysts have been one of the most effective approaches to address these grand challenges. Notably, the electronic structure tuning strategy, which could subtly tailor the electronic states, band structures, and adsorption ability of the catalysts, has become a pivotal way to further enhance the electrochemical water splitting reactions based on non-noble metal-based catalysts. Particularly, heteroatom-doping plays an effective role in regulating the electronic structure and optimizing the intrinsic activity of the catalysts. Nevertheless, the reaction kinetics, and in particular, the functional mechanisms of the hetero-dopants in catalysts yet remains ambiguous. Herein, the recent progress is comprehensively reviewed in heteroatom doped non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction, particularly focus on the electronic tuning effect of hetero-dopants in the catalysts and the corresponding synthetic pathway, catalytic performance, and activity origin. This review also attempts to establish an intrinsic correlation between the localized electronic structures and the catalytic properties, so as to provide a good reference for developing advanced low-cost catalysts.

Surface and Interface Engineering: Molybdenum Carbide-Based Nanomaterials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion

Molybdenum carbide (Mo_x C)-based nanomaterials have shown competitive performances for energy conversion applications based on their unique physicochemical properties. A large surface area and proper surface atomic configuration are essential to explore potentiality of Mo_x C in electrochemical applications. Although considerable efforts are made on the development of advanced Mo_x C-based catalysts for energy conversion with high efficiency and stability, some urgent issues, such as low electronic conductivity, low catalytic efficiency, and structural instability, have to be resolved in accordance with their application environments. Surface and interface engineering have shown bright prospects to construct highly efficient Mo_x C-based electrocatalysts for energy conversion including the hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, nitrogen reduction reaction, and carbon dioxide reduction reaction. In this Review, the recent progresses in terms of surface and interface engineering of Mo_x C-based electrocatalytic materials are summarized, including the increased number of active sites by decreasing the particle size or introducing porous or hierarchical structures and surface modification by introducing heteroatom(s), defects, carbon materials, and others electronic conductive species. Finally, the challenges and prospects for energy conversion on Mo_x C-based nanomaterials are discussed in terms of key performance parameters for the catalytic performance.

Distinctive MoS2-MoP nanosheet structures anchored on N-doped porous carbon support as a catalyst to enhance the electrochemical hydrogen production

The fabricated MoS₂-MoP/NC heterojunction electrocatalyst showed a low overpotential, small Tafel slope and excellent stability in alkaline and acidic media.

Ultrahigh electrocatalytic activity with trace amounts of platinum loadings on free-standing mesoporous titanium nitride nanotube arrays for hydrogen evolution reactions

Minimizing Pt loadings on electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) is essential for their commercial applications. Herein, free-standing mesoporous titanium nitride nanotube arrays (TiN NTAs) were fabricated to serve as a substrate for Pt loadings in trace amounts. TiN NTAs were prepared by thermal treatment of anodic TiO2 NTAs at 750 °C for 3 h in a NH3 atmosphere. The uniform TiN NTAs showed an inner diameter of ∼80 nm and a length of ∼7 μm, with many mesoporous holes ranging from 5 to 10 nm in diameter on the nanotube walls. Pt species dissolved from the Pt counter electrode in electrochemical cycling were redeposited on the mesoporous TiN NTAs to produce Pt-TiN NTAs with an ultra-low Pt loading of 8.3 μg cm-2. Pt-TiN NTAs exhibited 15-fold higher mass activity towards HER than the benchmark 20 wt% Pt/C in acidic media, with an overpotential of 71 mV vs. RHE at a current density of 10 mA cm-2, a Tafel slope value of 46.4 mV dec-1 and excellent stability. The performance of Pt-TiN NTAs is also much better than that of Pt species deposited on non-mesoporous nanotube arrays due to the shortcuts originating from the mesoporous holes on the nanotube walls for electron and mass transfer.

Stabilizing sulfur vacancy defects by performing "click" chemistry of ultrafine palladium to trigger a high-efficiency hydrogen evolution of MoS2

Defect engineering is widely applied in transition metal dichalcogenides to produce high-purity hydrogen. However, the instability of vacancy states on catalysis still remains a considerable challenge. Here, our first-principles calculations showed that, by optimizing the asymmetric S vacancy in the highly asymmetric 1T' crystal of layered bitransition metal dichalcogenides (Co-MoS2) in light of Pd modulation, the relative amount of metastable phase and the quantity of active sites in the structure can be reduced and increased, respectively, leading to a further boosted hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity toward layered bi-transition metal dichalcogenides. Thus, we then used a "click" chemistry strategy to make such a catalyst with engineered unsaturated sulfur edges via a strong coupling effect between ultrafine Pd ensembles and Co-MoS2 nanosheets. As expected, the Pd-modulated Co-MoS2 nanosheets exhibited a very low overpotential of 60 mV at 10 mA cm-2 with a small Tafel slope (56 mV dec-1) for the HER in 1.0 M PBS, comparable to those of commercial Pt/C. In addition, their high HER activity was retained in acidic and alkaline conditions. Both the theoretical and experimental results revealed that Pd ensembles can efficiently activate and stabilize the inert basal plane S sites during HER processes as a result of the formation of Pd-S in Co-MoS2. This work not only provides a deeper understanding of the correlation between defect sites and intrinsic HER catalytic properties for transition metal chalcogenide (TMD)-based catalysts, but also offers new insights into better designing earth-abundant HER catalysts displaying high efficiency and durability.

Covalent organic framework-supported platinum nanoparticles as efficient electrocatalysts for water reduction

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the most effective and sustainable ways to produce hydrogen gas as an alternative clean fuel. The rate of this electrocatalytic reaction is highly dependent on the properties (dispersity and stability) of electrocatalysts. Herein, we developed well-dispersed and highly stable platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) supported on a covalent organic framework (COF-bpyTPP), which exhibit excellent catalytic activities toward HER as well as the hydride reduction reaction. The nanoparticles have an average size of 2.95 nm and show superior catalytic performance compared to the commercially available Pt/C under the same alkaline conditions, producing 13 times more hydrogen with a far more positive onset potential (-0.13 V vs.-0.63 V) and ca. 100% faradaic efficiency. The reaction rate of the hydride reduction of 4-nitrophenol was also 10 times faster in the case of PtNPs@COF compared to the commercial Pt/C under the same loading and conditions. More importantly, the PtNPs@COF are highly stable under the aqueous reactions conditions and can be reused without showing noticeable aggregation and activity degradation.

Acid-directed morphology control of molybdenum carbide embedded in a nitrogen doped carbon matrix for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

By an acid-directed strategy, β-Mo₂C nanomaterials embedded in a nitrogen doped carbon matrix (β-Mo₂C/NC) with controlled morphology are synthesized and exhibit outstanding HER activities in both acidic and alkaline solutions.

Direct Hybridization of Noble Metal Nanostructures on 2D Metal-Organic Framework Nanosheets To Catalyze Hydrogen Evolution

Rational hybridization of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials with extrinsic species has shown great promise for a wide range of applications. To date, rational design and engineering of heterostructures based on 2D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has been rather limited. Herein, we report an efficient strategy to construct noble metal/2D MOF heterostructures, featuring the utilization of surface oxygen sites from uncoordinated MOF ligands. The incorporation of highly dispersed noble metal nanoparticles (e.g., Pt and Pd) with modulated electronic structure is enabled on a surfactant-free MOF surface. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, the 2D Ni-MOF@Pt hybrid with well-defined interfaces is applied to boost the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and delivers decent electrocatalytic activity under both acidic and alkaline conditions. The present results are expected to provide new insights into furnishing MOFs with extended functionalities and applications.

In situ synthesis of small Pt nanoparticles on chitin aerogel derived N doped ultra-thin carbon nanofibers for superior hydrogen evolution catalysis

Small and uniform Pt NPs were in situ synthesized on chitin aerogel derived N doped ultra-thin carbon nanofibers.