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

摘要

The universal preparation of noble metal single-atom catalysts (NMSACs) iscritical for efficient sustainable energy conversion. In this study, a versatilesowing strategy is proposed to prepare the NMSACs with hyper-low loading. Ametal-organic framework derived Ni(OH)_x with Ni~(2+) vacancies serves as fertilesoil with plentiful trapping holes, where the Pt atom seeds can be inserted. ThePt atoms tend to form tetradentate Pt-O_4 as the roots, confining the loadingconcentration to a hyper-low range (≈0.17 wt). This Pt-Ni(OH)x catalystexhibits an overpotential of 58 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm~（?2） in 1 mKOH for hydrogen evolution reaction and needs only 1.47 V to achieve η10 forwater splitting. This approach is extended to the formation of other NMSACssuch as Ir and Ru. The versatile sowing strategy thus provides guidance toprepare different NMSACs with excellent catalytic performance.