Phosphorus dopants triggered single-atom platinum catalysis for efficient hydrogen evolution in proton exchange membrane electrolyzers

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE) are regarded as a prospective technique for hydrogen production due to their superior energy efficiency as well as high gas pureness. However, cost-effective and high-efficiency electrocatalysts remain to be explored to further promote their hydrogen production capacity. Herein, single-atom Pt and P atom co-doped bicontinuous nanoporous MoS₂ (Pt_SA, P/np-MoS₂) is constructed as an electrocatalyst for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic HER performance with a low overpotential of 24 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², a small Tafel slope of 28 mV dec⁻¹, and excellent long-term stability in acidic media. Experimental and theoretical investigations unambiguously uncover that the activity and stability of Pt_SA, P/np-MoS₂ are significantly optimized by electronic effects due to the dual-element doping, thus dramatically enhancing HER via thermodynamic and kinetic acceleration. More significantly, a PEMWE assembled with the prepared catalyst as a cathode demonstrates exceptional hydrogen production performance with a cell voltage of 1.67 V up to 1 A cm⁻² as well as excellent stability.