Well-dispersed ultrafine Pt nanoparticles anchored on oxygen-rich surface of V2CTx (MXene) for boosting hydrogen evolution reaction

Developing homogeneous dispersion and efficient loading Pt-based electrocalalyst remains a huge challenge for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, a facile approach to deposit Pt nanoparticles on two-dimensional V 2 C MXene (Pt/V 2 CT x ) is achieved. Pt nanoparticles with narrow size distribution (∼3 nm) and high loading capacity are uniformly anchored on the surface of V 2 CT x . The obtained catalysts possess outstanding activity and stability for HER. In 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 , the overpotential of Pt/V 2 CT x (20%) is 67 mV, and the Tafel slope is 20.6 mV/dec. The oxygen-rich surface of V 2 CT x can provide good hydrophilicity, low hydrogen adsorption free energy and oxophilicity to provide abundant bonding sites for Pt nanoparticles. Moreover, the intrinsically excellent conductivity of V 2 CT x and strong coupling between V 2 CT x and Pt are also of benefit for improving the charge transfer and accelerating the HER kinetics. Therefore, Pt/V 2 CT x may be a promising candidate for HER.