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Harmonious Heterointerfaces Formed on 2D-Pt Nanodendrites by Facet-Respective Stepwise Metal Deposition for Enhanced
Byeong Su Gu1,2, Soumen Dutta1,2, Yu-Rim Hong1,2
1Center for Nanospace-confined Chemical Reactions (NCCR), Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 37673, South Korea.
Researchers developed a new catalyst by precisely layering palladium (Pd) and nickel (Ni) onto platinum (Pt) nanodendrites. This engineered heterointerface significantly boosts hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance, achieving 7.9 times higher activity than commercial catalysts.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Electrochemistry
Background:
- Maximizing nanocrystal (NC) catalyst performance requires precisely engineered heterointerfaces.
- Synthesizing facet- and spatio-specific heterointerfaces remains a significant challenge.
- Existing methods offer limited scope and synthetic control over heterointerface formation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a wet chemistry method for tunable deposition of Pd and Ni on 2D-Pt nanodendrites (NDs).
- To investigate the influence of differently located heterointerfaces on electrocatalytic synergy for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).
- To create an optimal catalyst for efficient alkaline HER by assembling engineered heterointerfaces.
Main Methods:
- Utilized 2D silica nanoreactors to house 2D-PtNDs for controlled deposition.
- Applied wet chemistry to deposit epitaxial (e-Pd, e-Ni) and non-epitaxial (n-Pd, n-Ni) layers on specific Pt surfaces.
- Analyzed the electronic effects and electrocatalytic synergy of distinct Pd/Pt and Ni/Pt heterointerfaces.
Main Results:
- Achieved exclusive formation of 0.5-nm-thick epitaxial Pd or Ni layers on the {110} surface of 2D-Pt within nanoreactors.
- Observed non-epitaxial deposition at the {111/100} edge in the absence of nanoreactors.
- Demonstrated enhanced H2 generation on Pt{110} with e-Pd and faster water dissociation on edge-located n-Ni.
- The assembled 2D n-Ni/e-Pd/Pt catalyst exhibited 7.9 times higher activity for alkaline HER compared to commercial Pt/C.
Conclusions:
- Engineered heterointerfaces with distinct locations and electronic properties significantly influence electrocatalytic synergy.
- The developed method enables tunable deposition of metals on specific facets of nanostructures.
- The optimal 2D n-Ni/e-Pd/Pt catalyst effectively overcomes sluggish alkaline HER kinetics, showing superior performance.
