Extreme Environmental Thermal Shock Induced Dislocation‐Rich Pt Nanoparticles Boosting Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Crystal structure engineering of nanomaterials is crucial for the design of electrocatalysts. Inducing dislocations is an efficient approach to generate strain effects in nanomaterials to optimize the crystal and electronic structures and improve the catalytic properties. However, it is almost impossible to produce and retain dislocations in commercial mainstream catalysts, such as single metal platinum (Pt) catalysts. In this work, a non‐equilibrium high‐temperature (>1400 K) thermal‐shock method is reported to induce rich dislocations in Pt nanocrystals (Dr‐Pt). The method is performed in an extreme environment (≈77 K) created by liquid nitrogen. The dislocations induced within milliseconds by thermal and structural stress during the crystallization process are kinetically frozen at an ultrafast cooling rate. The high‐energy surface structures with dislocation‐induced strain effects can prevent surface restructuring during catalysis. The findings indicate that a novel extreme environmental high‐temperature thermal‐shock method can successfully introduce rich dislocations in Pt nanoparticles and significantly boost its hydrogen evolution reaction performance.

An electrochemical modification strategy to fabricate NiFeCuPt polymetallic carbon matrices on nickel foam as stable electrocatalysts for water splitting

“…3b , in which the Tafel slope of NFFeCuPt (33.3 mV dec −1 ) is close to that of PtC (31.2 mV dec −1 ), indicating that the Tafel step is the rate determining step. 37 The lower Tafel slope shows better HER kinetics. 38 In an acidic electrolyte, H + obtains an electron to form H atoms and adsorbed on the surface of NFFeCuPt (Volmer reaction, H 3 O + + е − → H ads ), 39 followed by either an electrochemical desorption step (Heyrovsky step, H ads + H 3 O + + е − → H 2 ) or a chemical desorption step (Tafel step H ads + H ads → H 2 ) to form H 2 .…”

P‐doped MoS2/Ni2P/Ti3C2Tx heterostructures for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline media

“…Interestingly, compared with MTC@NF and MS@NF, P@MNTC has a larger range of electronic DOS near the Fermi level, which indicates that P@MNTC is more active than MTC@NF and MS@NF. [29][30][31][32] It is extremely helpful to study the catalytic pathways of different catalysts under alkaline conditions to explore the mechanism of multi-synergistic effects to enhance the performance. In an alkaline medium, the HER process can be divided into initial sample-H 2 O, intermediate sample-H*, and final sample-H 2 .…”

“…In addition, the electron density of state near the Fermi level of P@MNTC is higher than that of MTC@NF, indicating that P doping can effectively promote electron transfer as well, which corresponds to the EIS results. Interestingly, compared with MTC@NF and MS@NF, P@MNTC has a larger range of electronic DOS near the Fermi level, which indicates that P@MNTC is more active than MTC@NF and MS@NF 29–32 . It is extremely helpful to study the catalytic pathways of different catalysts under alkaline conditions to explore the mechanism of multi‐synergistic effects to enhance the performance.…”

Inverse Design of Materials by Machine Learning

“…Under such circumstances, materials must revolutionize toward low-carbon or even carbon-free scenarios, which require modified materials or new materials with known functionalities. Moreover, novel materials with unique properties are desperately needed in clean energy technologies [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. The inverse design-based high throughput ML method seems to be a promising area to address materials discovery and materials design.…”