Silk fibroin derived porous carbon aerogels confined hyperdispersed Rh nanoparticles to achieve electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution under high current density

In order to meet the current demand for clean energy and realize industrial application, it is urgent to develop highly efficient catalysts for hydrogen production from electrolytic water. Herein, we successfully synthesize hyperdispersed Rh nanoparticles on silk fibroin derived porous N-doped carbon aerogels (N-Rh/CA) using environment friendly silk fibroin as precursor material. The bonding between Rh and N anchored Rh nanoparticles uniformly super-dispersed on the substrate, exposing plentiful active sites. This N-Rh/CA with ultra-low metal content (2 wt %) exhibits the Pt-like electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution, delivering current density of 10 and 100 mA cm−2 at a ultrasmall overpotential of 65 mV and 210 mV, respectively. Meanwhile, N-Rh/CA possesses a mass activity of 196.81 A g−1 at potential of 150 mV, and exhibits outstanding economic efficiency compared with Pt/C and reported Rh-based electrocatalyst. Furthermore, the electrocatalyst showed superior stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction, paving way for its potential industrial application.