Highly dispersed ultrafine shell-like nano-Pt with efficient hydrogen evolution via metal boron organic polymers

Abstract

Hydrogen is considered as the most promising sustainable and economical energy source that can be used on a large scale as an alternative to fossil fuels, but its production requires additional catalysts. As an outstanding catalyst in the hydrogen evolution reaction, increasing the surface atomic ratio of Pt clusters can further improve its catalytic performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Here, using metal boron organic polymers (MBOPs) as bifunctional precursors (both reducing and self-supporting properties), a new approach to rapid large-scale preparation of supported Pt-based catalysts (Pt/MBOPs) with hydrogen evolution activity and stability is presented. First, the Pt nanoparticles in Pt/MBOPs with high dispersion and small particle size showed excellent catalytic performance in the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (E-HER), with an overpotential as low as 22.8 mV (at 10 mA cm⁻²) and a Tafel slope of only 56 mV dec⁻¹. In addition, Pt/MBOPs also show extraordinary performance in the decomposition of ammonia borane (a hydrogen storage chemical), and the TOF from ammonia borane to H₂ is as high as 1654.9 mol_H2 mol_Pt⁻¹ min⁻¹. It is worth noting that Pt/MBOPs show outstanding stability in electrochemical water splitting to hydrogen and ammonia borane hydrolysis, and are an efficient catalyst in industrial production or the immediate hydrogen production field.