Mixture Phases Engineering of PtFe Nanofoams for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution

PtFe nanofoams (PtFe-mix) combined with face center cubic and simple cubic phases are synthesized via a hydrogen-assisted calcination method for the first time. The experimental results and density functional theory calculations jointly illustrate that PtFe-mix possesses outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction activity in alkaline media due to appropriate d-band center and lower energy barrier of H2O dissociation. AbstractPhase engineering is a promising but challenging approach to construct PtFe-based catalysts with efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. Herein, the authors successfully synthesize PtFe nanofoams with face center cubic (fcc) phase, with simple cubic crystalline (scc) phase and with the mixture phases of fcc and scc phases (PtFe-mix) by hydrogen-assisted calcination for the first time. By benchmarking the HER activity, PtFe-mix exhibits excellent activity in 1.0  m KOH, requiring an overpotential of 28 mV to achieve 10 mA cm−2, which is better than the commercial Pt/C (34  mV). PtFe-mix also possesses remarkable stability up to 24 h. Density functional theory calculations further verify that PtFe-mix shows a more suitable d-band center and lower energy barrier for the initial water dissociation, facilitating the HER process. This work provides a meaningful strategy to design PtFe-based catalysts with efficient activity for hydrogen evolution.

Source: Small - January 10, 2022 Category: Nanotechnology Authors: Yue Shi, Dan Zhang, Hao Huang, Hongfu Miao, Xueke Wu, Huan Zhao, Tianrong Zhan, Xilei Chen, Jianping Lai, Lei Wang Tags: Research Article Source Type: research