Engineering FeNi alloy nanoparticles via synergistic ultralow Pt doping and nanocarbon capsulation for efficient hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Construction of ultralow platinum (Pt) electrocatalysts is essential for high-performance and cost-effective electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, we report a facile strategy to synthesize ultralow (0.66 wt%) Pt doped FeNi alloy nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in a porous graphene shell architecture (denoted as Pt-FeNi@C). The resulting Pt-FeNi@C catalyst exhibited an efficient specific activity and a small Tafel slope for the HER in 0.5 M H₂SO₄. Meanwhile, it also possessed an excellent stability, remaining stable at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² for 10 h with negligible loss. In particular, the mass activity of Pt-FeNi@C is 63.0 times higher than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst at an overpotential of 50 mV. This work may shed some light on engineering economic and efficient ultralow noble metal-based catalysts for efficient HER and beyond.