Well-dispersed ultrafine Pt nanoparticles anchored on oxygen-rich surface of V2CT (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 V2C MXene (Pt/V2CTx) is achieved. Pt nanoparticles with narrow size distribution (∼3 nm) and high loading capacity are uniformly anchored on the surface of V2CTx. The obtained catalysts possess outstanding activity and stability for HER. In 0.5 M H2SO4, the overpotential of Pt/V2CTx (20%) is 67 mV, and the Tafel slope is 20.6 mV/dec. The oxygen-rich surface of V2CTx 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 V2CTx and strong coupling between V2CTx and Pt are also of benefit for improving the charge transfer and accelerating the HER kinetics. Therefore, Pt/V2CTx may be a promising candidate for HER.