Ultrafine PtMo Nanocrystals Confined on N-Doped Carbon Toward Efficient pH-Universal Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Pt-based nanocrystals with tunable electronic structure and optimized atom efficiency are essential for boosting the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance and further industrial application. However, the synthesis of uniform and ordered nanocrystals is still a challenge due to the uncontrollable size growth of metal particles, restricting the active sites toward the desired catalytic activity. Herein, the synthesis of ultrafine bimetal PtMo nanocrystals on N-doped carbon (PtMo-NC) through an anchoring-sites engineering strategy is reported, in which the N-rich carbon can provide abundant sites to anchor the metal atoms and suppress the over aggregation. The PtMo-NC catalyst exhibits superior HER performance in both alkaline and acidic conditions, delivering a smaller overpotential (80 mV and 63 mV) at a current density of 100 mA cm(-2) in alkaline and acidic media. Theoretical calculations reveal that the introduction of Mo atom into Pt can reduce the energy barrier of water molecule dissociation and optimize the H intermediate absorption strength on Pt sites, thus boosting the catalytic HER performance. This study offers a universal strategy to design ultrafine nanocatalysts to achieve high-efficiency electrocatalysis.