In-plane strain engineering in ultrathin noble metal nanosheets boosts the intrinsic electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity

Geng Wu, Xiao Han, Jinyan Cai, Peiqun Yin, Peixin Cui, Xusheng Zheng, Hai Li, Cai Chen, Gongming Wang () and Xun Hong ()
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Geng Wu: University of Science and Technology of China
Xiao Han: University of Science and Technology of China
Jinyan Cai: University of Science and Technology of China
Peiqun Yin: University of Science and Technology of China
Peixin Cui: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xusheng Zheng: University of Science and Technology of China
Hai Li: Nanjing Technology University
Cai Chen: University of Science and Technology of China
Gongming Wang: University of Science and Technology of China
Xun Hong: University of Science and Technology of China

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Strain has been shown to modulate the electronic structure of noble metal nanomaterials and alter their catalytic performances. Since strain is spatially dependent, it is challenging to expose the active strained interfaces by structural engineering with atomic precision. Herein, we report a facile method to manipulate the planar strain in ultrathin noble metal nanosheets by constructing amorphous–crystalline phase boundaries that can expose the active strained interfaces. Geometric-phase analysis and electron diffraction profile demonstrate the in-plane amorphous–crystalline boundaries can induce about 4% surface tensile strain in the nanosheets. The strained Ir nanosheets display substantially enhanced intrinsic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysis with a turnover frequency value 4.5-fold higher than the benchmark Pt/C catalyst. Density functional theory calculations verify that the tensile strain optimizes the d-band states and hydrogen adsorption properties of the strained Ir nanosheets to improve catalysis. Furthermore, the in-plane strain engineering method is demonstrated to be a general approach to boost the hydrogen evolution performance of Ru and Rh nanosheets.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31971-4

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