Polyoxometalates‐derived Pt‐Mo ₂ C cluster heterostructure for co‐catalytic alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract Constructing cluster heterostructures with strongly coupled interfaces is of great importance to accelerating the catalytic reactions that involve multiple intermediates. Herein, a strongly coupled cluster heterostructure composed of platinum and molybdenum carbide (Pt@Mo 2 C) derived from polyoxometalate clusters is designed to achieve excellent alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. The Pt@Mo 2 C cluster exhibits strong electronic interactions between Pt and Mo 2 C, working together to facilitate the H 2 O dissociation by concurrently binding intermediates (Pt–H* and Mo–OH*), thus accelerating the kinetics of the rate‐determining Volmer step. The optimized Pt@Mo 2 C exhibits a high mass activity of 12.1 A·mg Pt −1 , 19.2 times higher than that of 20% Pt/C in alkaline media. Moreover, it can be stabilized at a current density of 100 mA·cm −2 for more than 200 h. This work demonstrated the superiority of the cluster heterostructures and co‐catalytic effect towards the development of highly efficient electrocatalysts.