Preparation of carbon sponge loaded NiPt dual-metal single atom as self-supporting electrode based on inkjet printing technology for efficient hydrogen evolution

Hitherto, Pt-based catalysts still occupy a dominant position in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but high cost greatly restricts their applications. Dual metal-atom catalysts (DACs) break the limitation of symmetrical charge distribution at single atomic sites, leading to the synergistic effect to reduce adsorption energies of reaction intermediates by optimized electronic structure. Herein, ZIF-8 derived strategy by inkjet printing is proposed to prepare NiPt dual-metal single atom in situ on porous carbon sponges (NiPt/CMS) as HER self-supporting electrodes. Inkjet printing is helpful to avoid aggregation of nanoparticles, so that resulting in high atomic sites density of the self-supporting electrode. Based on this, the interaction between Ni and Pt atoms of NiPt/CMS catalyst results in faster charge transfer and moderate binding with intermediates, promoting the catalytic activity of HER reaction is improved. As a result, overpotentials of 66 mV in acidic media and 67 mV in alkaline media at the current density of 10 mA cm−2 are reported for NiPt/CMS, highlighting the dual-metal single atom effect. This work provides inspiration for multiple active sites in SACs.