Rapid template‐guided ligand‐free synthesis of ultrasmall Pt nanoclusters with efficient hydrogen evolution reaction activity and their versatile release
Lizhen Chen,
Shoaib Azeem,
Mingbo Ruan,
Weilin Xu,
Almut Barck,
Andreas Kornowski,
Wolfgang J. Parak,
Indranath Chakraborty
Affiliations
Lizhen Chen
Fachbereich Physik Center for Hybrid Nanostructures (CHyN) Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany
Shoaib Azeem
Fachbereich Physik Philipps Universität Marburg Marburg Germany
Mingbo Ruan
State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, and Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Low Carbon Chemical Power Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Science Changchun P. R. China
Weilin Xu
State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, and Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Low Carbon Chemical Power Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Science Changchun P. R. China
Almut Barck
Fachbereich Chemie Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany
Andreas Kornowski
Fachbereich Chemie Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany
Wolfgang J. Parak
Fachbereich Physik Center for Hybrid Nanostructures (CHyN) Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany
Indranath Chakraborty
Fachbereich Physik Center for Hybrid Nanostructures (CHyN) Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany
Abstract The design of ligand‐free platinum nanoclusters (PtNCs) for the field of renewable energy is still challenging. Herein, we reported a fast synthesis of ligand‐free Pt nanoclusters (NCs) by utilizing the outer defect of a representative type of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF). Structural investigation suggests a homogenous distribution of the PtNCs on the outer layer of the ZIF‐8 structure. The as‐prepared PtNCs@ZIF‐8 exhibits high catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The extremely low overpotential with 1.4 mV, high kinetic current (specific and mass activity at 50 mV), and larger exchange current density were achieved in acidic solution, better than those of the commercial 20% Pt/C catalysts under the same condition. Furthermore, the PtNCs can be extracted from the ZIF‐8 structure to both aqueous and non‐aqueous solvent, which could be further used for other systems. These findings allow for a simple route of template‐guided NC synthesis and their release.
