PVA decorated Pt nanoparticles as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Pt-based materials have widely been explored as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts, but the high cost of Pt catalyst limits its application in HER. Therefore, we report a platinum/polyvinyl-alcohol (Pt x -PVA) catalyst with high catalytic activity and low Pt loading. Pt x -PVA catalysts with a uniform distribution of the Pt nanoparticles (NPs) have successfully been synthesized by a simple one-step hydrothermal method. The size and morphology of Pt NPs can be easily adjusted by changing the amount of Pt precursor, easy to pick out the sample with the best performance. Among them, the Pt 1.88 -PVA catalyst exhibits the best electrocatalytic activity for HER in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 solution. An overpotential of 34 mV on Pt 1.88 -PVA catalyst is obtained at a current density of −10 mA cm −2 , which is slightly better than the overpotential of the commercial Pt/C (42 mV). Similarly, the Tafel slope of 31 mV dec −1 on the Pt 1.88 -PVA catalyst indicates that the HER process is the Volmer-Tafel mechanism. However, the Pt loading of the Pt 1.88 -PVA catalyst is 18.8% times lower than that of the commercial Pt/C. Furthermore, the Pt x -PVA catalysts exhibit an excellent stability and durability. This is due to the coating effect of PVA for Pt NPs, which limits the migration and agglomeration of Pt NPs. This study provides a new approach for reducing the Pt load in Pt-based catalyst in the field of electrochemistry.