Nitrogen-doped hollow porous carbon polyhedrons embedded with highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles as a highly efficient and stable hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst

Abstract

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a promising alternative method of producing clean and renewable hydrogen resources. Although Pt-based nanomaterials are the most efficient catalysts for HER, their poor stability and durability strongly impede their practical application. In this study, we report a new, efficient strategy to fabricate highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles within unique nitrogen-doped hollow porous carbon polyhedrons (Pt@NHPCP) derived from polymer coated metal-organic frameworks. Pt@NHPCP displays enhanced HER activity compared to commercial Pt/C. Most importantly, Pt@NHPCP exhibits excellent stability and durability, showing no nanostructure change and negligible activity decrease after 5000 potential cycles. The outstanding HER performance of Pt@NHPCP can be attributed to its unique structural features including highly dispersed Pt, nitrogen-doping, large surface area, hollow nanostructure and hierarchical pore system.