PtNi Supported on ZIF-Derived Porous Carbon as a High-Efficiency Acidic Hydrogen Evolution Catalyst

Hydrogen production by water cracking is an important means to solve the energy crisis and environmental problems. Low-Pt-content electrocatalysts can keep better balance between activity and cost. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective synthesis method to synthesize a bimetallic porous nitrogen-doped carbon (BMNC)-supported ultrafine PtxNiy alloy hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst. BMNC is derived from a Zn-Co zeolite imidazolate skeleton (ZIFS) and can be used as a high-efficiency catalyst support for the HER in acidic solutions. The optimal sample Pt2Ni2/BMNC with a Pt content of 8.4 wt % shows superior performance with the lowest overpotential (eta(10) = 27 mV) and the smallest Tafel slope (17.7 mV dec(-1)), which is attributed to the merits of smaller charge transfer resistance, porous carbon support, and the alloy effect between Pt and Ni. After continuous working for 36 000 s at a voltage of -0.272 V, there is 10.6% decay of catalyst potential. We hope that this work can provide useful information to prepare efficient HER electrocatalysts.