Congratulations! Nature Catalysis

Single-Atom-Layer Noble Metal Catalysts

    Recently, Prof. Yongmin He, in collaboration with Prof. Zheng Liu and Qijie Wang from NTU, and Prof. Zhuhua Zhang from Nanjing University, designed the single-atom-layer noble metal catalysts. And the research “Amorphizing noble metal chalcogenide catalysts at the single-layer limit towards hydrogen” was published online in Nature Catalysis.

    Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a wafer-size amorphous PtSe_x film on a SiO₂ substate via a low-temperature amorphization strategy, which offers single-atom-layer Pt catalysts with high atom-utilization efficiency (~26 wt%). This amorphous PtSe_x (1.2 < x < 1.3) behaves as a fully activated surface, accessible to catalytic reactions, and features a nearly 100% current density relative to a pure Pt surface and reliable production of sustained high-flux hydrogen over a 2 inch wafer as a proof-of-concept. Furthermore, an electrolyser is demonstrated to generate a high current density of 1,000 mA cm^-2. Such an amorphization strategy is potentially extendable to other noble metals, including the Pd, Ir, Os, Rh and Ru elements, demonstrating the universality of single-atom-layer catalysts.

(a) The design concept of Pt single-atom layer catalyst.(b) The use of microcells to verify the HER activity of amorphous PtSe_x.(c) The HER pergormance comparison with pure Pt surface.