Butterfly Effect of Electron Donor from Monoatomic Cobalt in Few-Atom Platinum Clusters: Boosting Electrocatalysis

Few-atom metal clusters feature an extremely large surface area and abundant active sites, which are particularly important for electrocatalysis. Herein, we report a monoatomic cobalt tailoring strategy to boost the performance of platinum clusters (ca. <1 nm) via hetero-charge-trapping chemistry by ultraviolet light reducing Pt-based anions anchored on target Co cations. The created Co₁Pt clusters exhibit a mass activity of 2.27 A mg_Pt^-1, which is about 1621% higher than that obtained by state-of-the-art Pt/C (2 nm) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This can be attributed to the butterfly effect of electron donor from monoatomic cobalt in the platinum clusters. Moreover, the improved stability results from the Co located at the bottom position of the Pt host, possessing high resistance to Co leaching. Therefore, this offers a general strategy to optimize the high performance of platinum group metal (PGM) clusters for electrocatalysis.