Rationally Designed Asymmetric Pt─O─Cu Ligand to Stabilize Active Sites Towards Superior Industrial‐Standard Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution
Abstract Developing efficient and durable Pt‐based catalysts via interface engineering remains a critical yet challenging task for water electrolysis under high‐pH conditions. Herein, we design a unique asymmetric Pt─O─Cu ligand at the PtCu 2 (111)/CuO(002) heterojunction interface to promote alkaline HER kinetics. This ligand balances the adsorption and desorption of H* on the Pt site by accelerating electron transfer at the interface while enhancing the adsorption of H 2 O on the Cu site. Moreover, the strong d‐d/sp hybridization and more delocalized d‐DOS located at the Pt─O─Cu ligand enhance the interatomic interactions, which helps alleviate the dissolution and agglomeration of Pt and Cu atoms. As anticipated, the PtCu 2 /CuO requires ultra‐low overpotentials of 10, 14 and 47 mV in, respectively, alkaline, acidic and neutral electrolytes to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm −2 . Even more surprising is that the PtCu 2 /CuO||RuO 2 dual‐electrode hydrolysis cell can stably operate at a high current density of 1 A cm −2 for more than 500 h in a simulated industrial environment, demonstrating significant potential for industrial applications. This work provides a new paradigm for the design of industrially relevant high‐performance Pt‐based alkaline hydrogen evolution catalytic materials.
Authors
- Paul Munroe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5091-2513)
- Shengjie Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1591-1301)
- Minming Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4197-7005)
- Zonghan Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8647-7958)
- Qi Zhou
- Linlin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7181-6654)
- Yujie Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6588-6266)
- Yu-Ping Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1984-8657)
- Xu Jiang
Institutions
- Shaoxing University (CN)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Energy Storage Systems (United States) (US)
- Division of Materials Science and Engineering (AU)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Southeast University (CN)
- Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2025-06-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202510259
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.45
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China