Nanostructured Pine-Like Platinum on Self-Supported Substrates for Robust Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Sustainable electrocatalytic hydrogen production is avital methodfor producing clean energy. However, the current platinum catalystsare costly and complicated to prepare with low catalytic activity.To obtain efficient catalysts, a facile method with a rational electrodedesign is essential to improve platinum activity and stability, facilitatingthe hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we fabricated a self-supportedHER composite electrode with abundant platinum activity sites by asimple metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, and nanostructuredpine-like platinum was supported on carbon cloth (Pt/CC). Benefitingfrom the nanostructured pine-like platinum geometry, fast charge transfer,and good structure stability, this Pt/CC composite electrode exhibitedexcellent HER electrocatalytic activity. For HER, this electrode achieveda low overpotential of only 17.6 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) in 1 M KOH. Moreover, Pt/CC exhibits long-term electrochemical durability,maintaining its catalytic activity for more than 30 h. What is more,this strategy can also be used on other self-supported substrates,e.g., nickel foam, to achieve high electrocatalytic activity. Thus,this work provides a simple and versatile method for the preparationof efficient HER catalysts.

Automated summary

Sustainable electrocatalytic hydrogen production is important for clean energy, but current platinum catalysts are expensive and complex to prepare with low catalytic activity. This study developed a simple method to fabricate a self-supported hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) composite electrode with abundant platinum activity sites, showing excellent HER electrocatalytic activity. The electrode achieved a low overpotential and maintained its catalytic activity for more than 30 hours. This work also provides a versatile method for preparing efficient HER catalysts.