Cited by 2,072Electrocatalysts for Energy ConversionCatalytic Processes in Materials ScienceCO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts

Platinum single-atom and cluster catalysis of the hydrogen evolution reaction

Open access
Cheng, Niancai, Stambula, Samantha, Wang, Da, Banis, Mohammad Norouzi, Liu, Jian, Riese, Adam, Xiao, Biwei, Li, Ruying +4 more·2016·Nature Communications

Abstract

Platinum-based catalysts have been considered the most effective electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction in water splitting. However, platinum utilization in these electrocatalysts is extremely low, as the active sites are only located on the surface of the catalyst particles. Downsizing catalyst nanoparticles to single atoms is highly desirable to maximize their efficiency by utilizing nearly all platinum atoms. Here we report on a practical synthesis method to produce isolated single platinum atoms and clusters using the atomic layer deposition technique. The single platinum atom catalysts are investigated for the hydrogen evolution reaction, where they exhibit significantly enhanced catalytic activity (up to 37 times) and high stability in comparison with the state-of-the-art commercial platinum/carbon catalysts. The X-ray absorption fine structure and density functional theory analyses indicate that the partially unoccupied density of states of the platinum atoms' 5d orbitals on the nitrogen-doped graphene are responsible for the excellent performance.

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Crossref · 10.1038/ncomms13638

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  • High-surface-area carbon in the form of core−shell, wrapped, or dispersed structures has been used as an impressive metal catalyst support against corrosion by forming complexes with the metal.

    “To overcome these drawbacks, high-surface-area carbon in the form of core−shell, wrapped, or dispersed structures has been used as an impressive metal catalyst support against corrosion by forming complexes with the metal.”

    From Highly Dispersed Pt Clusters on F-Doped Tin(IV) Oxide Aerogel Matrix: An Ultra-Robust Hybrid Catalyst for Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution (2022) · cites this paper as [11]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says that strong Pt–carbon interactions on nitrogen-doped graphene help stabilize the supported catalyst, and the Results describe chemical bonding between the Pt precursor and that support. The paper does not establish the claimed range of core–shell, wrapped, or dispersed carbon structures or show that forming metal complexes protects them against corrosion; its stability discussion primarily concerns Pt aggregation. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The TOF of Ni/GD and Fe/GD at 100 mV was calculated to be 1.59 and 4.15 s−1, respectively, which is much higher than other reported state-of-the-art electrocatalysts, such as CoP (0.046 s-1) and Ni2P (0.015 s-1).

    “The TOF of Ni/GD and Fe/GD at 100 mV were calculated to be 1.59 and 4.15 s−1 (Fig. 5f), respectively, which are much higher than other reported state-of-the-art electrocatalysts, such as CoP (0.046 s–1)47 and Ni2P (0.015 s–1)43 (Supplementary Table 5).”

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Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Chorkendorff I. & Niemantsverdriet J. W. Concepts of Modern Catalysis and Kinetics Wiley-VCH (2003).
  2. Sun S. H.. Single-atom catalysis using Pt/graphene achieved through atomic layer deposition. Sci. Rep. 3, 1775 (2013).
  3. Puurunen R. L. Surface chemistry of atomic layer deposition: A case study for the trimethylaluminum/water process. J. Appl. Phys. 97, 121301 (2005).
  4. Wu J. F.. A review of PEM fuel cell durability: degradation mechanisms and mitigation strategies. J. Power Sources 184, 104– 119 (2008).
  5. Parsons R. The rate of electrolytic hydrogen evolution and the heat of adsorption of hydrogen. Trans. Faraday Soc. 54, 1053– 1063 (1958).
  6. Kresse G. & Furthmüller J. Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set. Phys. Rev. B 54, 11169 (1996). 9984901
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Authors
Cheng, N., Stambula, S., Wang, D., Banis, M. N., Liu, J., Riese, A., Xiao, B., Li, R., Sham, T.-K., Liu, L.-M., Botton, G. A., & Sun, X.
Affiliations
  • Western University (CA)
  • McMaster University (CA)
  • Beijing Computational Science Research Center (CN)
  • Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research (CA)
Corresponding author
  • Botton, Gianluigi A.
  • Sun, Xueliang
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2016-11-30
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
13638-13638
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2557321703
Cited by
2,072
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 134 · 2025: 199 · 2024: 227 · 2023: 223 · 2022: 277 · 2021: 265 · 2020: 298 · 2019: 228 · 2018: 147 · 2017: 70 · 2016: 1 · 2014: 1
FWCI
40.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Canadian Light Source
  • McMaster University
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (51572016 and U1530401, 51572016, U-1530401)
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China-Guangdong Joint Fund (U1530401)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Catalytic Processes in Materials Science
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Keywords
platinum single-atom catalysts, platinum clusters, hydrogen evolution reaction, electrocatalysis, atomic layer deposition, nitrogen-doped graphene, water splitting, platinum utilization, catalyst stability

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