Interfacial charge redistribution in Pt nanocluster/nickel diselenide electrocatalyst for promoting alkaline water splitting

Hydrogen production by electrolysis of water has great application prospects but indering its industrial application by large overpotential. Pt-based catalysts as the best catalyst for alkaline water splitting can effectively reduce the reaction energy barrier and improve the performance of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but with high cost and low atom utilization rate. Herein, the transition metal compound of NiSe 2 as a potential electrocatalyst is combined with Pt nanocluster by constant current deposition ( i.e. CC@NiSe 2 -Pt). Electrochemical test of CC@NiSe 2 -Pt exhibits superior HER performance with 57.6 mV at the current of –10 mA cm –2 . Besides, CC@NiSe 2 -Pt also shows excellent stability beyond 100 h. The calculated turnover frequency (TOF) of CC@NiSe 2 -Pt is 0.224 S –1 which is 7.46 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.03 S –1 ). The performance of CC@NiSe 2 -Pt for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and water splitting were also well highlighted. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations verify the importance of synergy and charge redistribution between the interfaces of NiSe 2 and Pt nanocluster (Pt NCs). • Pt NCs loaded on 3D NiSe2 nanosheets was fabricated by facile two-step approach. • The NiSe2-Pt as bifunctional catalyst to achieve excellent overall water splitting. • The interfacial charge redistribution between Pt and NiSe2 promoted water splitting.