Platinum single-atom and cluster anchored on functionalized MWCNTs with ultrahigh mass efficiency for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Platinum (Pt)-based heterogeneous catalysts are promising for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER); considerable efforts, however, are devoted to reducing Pt usage by maximizing catalytic efficiency due to its high price and scarcity. Herein, we report Pt single-atom and cluster catalyst anchored on functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (Pt/f-MWCNTs) by photodeposition. The Pt/f-MWCNTs catalyst with Pt loading of 0.323 wt% exhibits exceptionally high activity and decent stability for HER in acid condition, whose mass activity is 74.7 times higher than that of state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C catalyst at an overpotential of 50 mV vs. RHE. This work paves a novel way to realize controllable synthesis of Pt-based catalysts with ultrahigh activity and long-term stability for electrocatalytic HER.