Sowing Single Atom Seeds: A Versatile Strategy for Hyper-Low Noble Metal Loading to Boost Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

The universal preparation of noble metal single-atom catalysts (NMSACs) is critical for efficient sustainable energy conversion. In this study, a versatile sowing strategy is proposed to prepare the NMSACs with hyper-low loading. A metal-organic framework derived Ni(OH)x with Ni2+ vacancies serves as fertile soil with plentiful trapping holes, where the Pt atom seeds can be inserted. The Pt atoms tend to form tetradentate Pt-O4 as the roots, confining the loading concentration to a hyper-low range (≈0.17 wt%). This Pt-Ni(OH)x catalyst exhibits an overpotential of 58 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 1 m KOH for hydrogen evolution reaction and needs only 1.47 V to achieve η10 for water splitting. This approach is extended to the formation of other NMSACs such as Ir and Ru. The versatile sowing strategy thus provides guidance to prepare different NMSACs with excellent catalytic performance.