From nanoparticle to nanofilm: Atomic layer deposition enabled Pt/carbon cloth electrodes for enhanced hydrogen evolution activity in both acid and alkaline medium

Noble metal catalyst of Pt is considered as the most effective catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, its high cost and rare resource has been the roadblock for its widespread application. Therefore, design the small Pt nanoparticles with high active surface area and high activity is still demand in the HER. In this work, we propose a strategy to improve the utilization efficiency of Pt by decorating the cross-linked structures of CC with ultrafine Pt nanoparticles/nanofilm via the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. The optimized Pt/CC catalyst with ultralow Pt mass loading exhibits exceptional HER performance in terms of low overpotential, small Tafel slope and excellent long-term durability in both acid and alkaline solutions, which is comparable to the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst.