Loading Pt Nanoparticles on Ultrathin Amorphous Nanobelts for Enhanced Hydrogen Production

Due to unique metal-support interactions, loaded structures have been widely used in the structural design of hydrogen-extraction reaction (HER) electrocatalysts. However, the development of catalysts that are both active and stable remains a great challenge. Herein, we successfully anchored Pt nanoparticles on ultrathin nanobelts to construct a crystalline/amorphous Pt NPs/CNWO_x NBs heterostructure, which possesses the dual advantages of fast electron transfer in crystalline materials and effective exposure of active sites in amorphous materials. The obtained catalyst exhibits great HER catalytic performance in both 0.5 M H₂SO₄ and 1 M KOH. Compared with CNWO_x nanobelts, Pt-loaded Pt NPs/CNWO_x NBs exhibits lower overpotentials and faster HER kinetics. For acidic and alkaline HER, the catalyst required only low overpotentials of 35 mV and 60 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm^-2, respectively, which is even better than that of commercial Pt/C. And Pt NPs/CNWO_x NBs shows almost no degradation after long time stability tests. It is found that the composite structure of crystalline/amorphous, the heterogeneous interface and the introduction of Pt synergize with each other to achieve increased number of active sites and enhanced intrinsic activity, resulting in excellent electrocatalytic HER activity and stability.