Heterostructured Pt-Ni3Mo3N formed via ammonia-containing polyoxometalates for highly efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in acid medium

Constructing heterostructured nanohybrid is considered as a prominent route to fabricate alternative electrocatalysts to commercial Pt/C for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, (NH4)4[NiH6Mo6O24]·5H2O polyoxometalates (NiMo6) are adopted as the cluster precursors for simple fabrication of heterostructured Pt-Ni3Mo3N nanohybrids supported by carbon black (Pt-Ni3Mo3N/C) without using additional N sources. The improved porosity and enhanced electronic interaction of Pt-Ni3Mo3N/C should be attributed to the integration of Pt with NiMo6, which favors the mass transport, promotes the formation of exposed catalytic sites, and benefits the regulation of intrinsic activity. Thus, the as-obtained Pt-Ni3Mo3N/C exhibits impressive and durable HER performance as indicated by the low overpotential of 13.7 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and the stable overpotential during continuous working at 100 mA cm−2 for 100 h. This work provides significant insights for the synthesis of new highly active heterostructured electrocatalysts for renewable energy devices.