Journal ArticleSingle-atomic platinum on fullerene C60 surfaces for accelerated alkaline hydrogen evolutionZhang, Ruiling; Li, Yaozhou; Zhou, Xuan; Yu, Ao; Huang, Qi; Xu, Tingting; Zhu, Longtao; Peng, Ping; Song, Shuyan; Echegoyen, Luis; Li, Fang-Fang<title>Abstract</title> <p>The electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the most studied and promising processes for hydrogen fuel generation. Single-atom catalysts have been shown to exhibit ultra-high HER catalytic activity, but the harsh preparation conditions and the low single-atom loading hinder their practical applications. Furthermore, promoting hydrogen evolution reaction kinetics, especially in alkaline electrolytes, remains as an important challenge. Herein, Pt/C<sub>60</sub>catalysts with high-loading, high-dispersion single-atomic platinum anchored on C<sub>60</sub>are achieved through a room-temperature synthetic strategy. Pt/C<sub>60</sub>-2 exhibits high HER catalytic performance with a low overpotential (η<sub>10</sub>) of 25 mV at 10 mA cm<sup>−2</sup>. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the Pt-C<sub>60</sub>polymeric structures in Pt/C<sub>60</sub>-2 favors water adsorption, and the shell-like charge redistribution around the Pt-bonding region induced by the curved surfaces of two adjacent C<sub>60</sub>facilitates the desorption of hydrogen, thus favoring fast reaction kinetics for hydrogen evolution.</p>Nature2023-12-0110481623Nature Communications1412041-1723https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38126-z1801317National Science Foundation