Pt-M bimetallic nanoparticles (M = Ni, Cu, Er) supported on metal organic framework-derived N-doped nanostructured carbon for hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reaction

The manufacturing of bimetallic durable and efficient electrocatalyst with the support of N-doped porous carbon for hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction is extremely important for their long-term operation and wide applications. N-doped porous nanostructured carbon material with excellent permanent porosity and high surface area is produced through pyrolysis of Zn-MOF in inert atmosphere that further utilized as a support for the preparation of three bimetallic composites Pt-Ni@PCN920, Pt-Cu@PCN920 and Pt-Er@ PCN920. It is found that Pt-Ni@PCN920 with less than 10% Pt showed the same over potential (-42 mV) for HER as that of commercial 20%Pt/C at a current density 10 mAcm(-2) in basic solution. The performance of Pt-Ni@ PCN920 in terms of stability and efficiency is good and comparable with commercial 20%Pt/C for HER and with RuO2 for OER. The best of three has been analyzed for long term stability and durability which is stable up to nine hours with little variation of current. The active sites developed by N-doping in nanostructured carbon material along with alloying effect of second metal with Pt produced good results for HER and OER with less than 10% Pt.