Molybdenum Carbide-PtCu Nanoalloy Heterostructures on MOF-Derived Carbon toward Efficient Hydrogen Evolution

Chengtian Zhang; Qian Liu; Pengyan Wang; Jiawei Zhu; Ding Chen; Yue Yang; Yufeng Zhao; Zonghua Pu; Shichun Mu

doi:10.1002/smll.202104241

Molybdenum Carbide-PtCu Nanoalloy Heterostructures on MOF-Derived Carbon toward Efficient Hydrogen Evolution

Small. 2021 Dec;17(51):e2104241. doi: 10.1002/smll.202104241. Epub 2021 Oct 28.

Authors

Chengtian Zhang^{1

2}, Qian Liu¹, Pengyan Wang¹, Jiawei Zhu¹, Ding Chen¹, Yue Yang¹, Yufeng Zhao³, Zonghua Pu¹, Shichun Mu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China.
² Foshan Xianhu Laboratory of the Advanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Laboratory, Xianhu hydrogen Valley, Foshan, 528200, China.
³ Institute for Sustainable Energy/College of Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.

PMID: 34713571
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202104241

Abstract

In this study, PtCu-Mo₂ C heterostructure with charge redistribution is investigated via first-principles theoretical calculations. Mo₂ C can promote the formation of the electron-rich region of PtCu as an active site, displaying an optimized adsorption behavior toward hydrogen in terms of reduced thermodynamic energy barriers. Owing to the attractive density functional theory calculation results, the PtCu-Mo₂ C heterostructure is fabricated via carbonization of the unique metal-organic framework (MOF) followed by the replacement reduction reaction for the first time. Owing to its swift kinetics and outstanding specific activity, it exhibits high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic activity (26 mV @ 10 mA cm^-2 ) and superior mass activity (1 A mg_Pt ^-1 at -0.04 V) in acidic media, which is approximately six times that of commercial Pt/C catalysts. The perception of the intrinsic activity origin of the alloy with an excellent structural support can guide the development of Pt-based and other alloy catalysts in future.

Keywords: DFT calculation; alloy catalysts; heterostructures; hydrogen evolution reaction; metal-organic frameworks.

Abstract

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