Abstract
The electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the most studied and promising processes for hydrogen fuel generation. Single-atom catalysts have been shown to exhibit ultra-high HER catalytic activity, but the harsh preparation conditions and the low single-atom loading hinder their practical applications. Furthermore, promoting hydrogen evolution reaction kinetics, especially in alkaline electrolytes, remains as an important challenge. Herein, Pt/C(60) catalysts with high-loading, high-dispersion single-atomic platinum anchored on C(60) are achieved through a room-temperature synthetic strategy. Pt/C(60)-2 exhibits high HER catalytic performance with a low overpotential (η(10)) of 25 mV at 10 mA cm(-2). Density functional theory calculations reveal that the Pt-C(60) polymeric structures in Pt/C(60)-2 favors water adsorption, and the shell-like charge redistribution around the Pt-bonding region induced by the curved surfaces of two adjacent C(60) facilitates the desorption of hydrogen, thus favoring fast reaction kinetics for hydrogen evolution.