Pt nanoparticles planted on polydopamine-derived curved carbon substrate from free-standing TiO₂ nanosheets for...

Curved carbon structure can modulate the interaction between the catalyst and the reaction intermediates and enhance the intrinsic activity of the catalyst. However, it remains a significant challenge to prepare curved carbon without surfactants or templates. Herein, we report a facile strategy to prepare curved carbon via mechanical shaking process with polydopamine (PDA) as a precursor. Then, uniformly dispersed Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs) are planted in situ on the curved carbon structure from free-standing TiO₂ nanosheets (C-rPDA-Pt/TiO₂ NSs) to prepare ultralow Pt loading (13.4 μg cm^-2) catalysts for acidic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The mass activity of C-rPDA-Pt/TiO₂ NSs is tenfold higher than that of the planar carbon supported Pt catalyst (C-sPDA-Pt/TiO₂ NSs) and four times higher than that of 40 % commercial Pt/C catalyst at an applied voltage of -0.1 V. DFT calculations suggest that curved carbon structure effectively adjusts the electronic structure of Pt active sites, thereby achieving optimal Gibbs free energy for hydrogen evolution and enhancing HER performance.