Coupling low platinum and tungsten carbide supported on ZIFs-Derived porous carbon for efficient hydrogen evolution

Reducing the loading of noble metal electrocatalysts with high activity and excellent stability for hydrogen evolution (HER) is still a focused challenge. Herein, we report a reproducible method for coupling Pt nanoparticles and WC hybrids (Pt-WC) based on bimetallic Zn–Co-ZIFs (BMZ) for the first time by facile impregnation-pyrolyzation method. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of Pt and WC metal nanoparticles, the optimized catalyst Pt-WC-1,10/BMZ (the molar ratio of Zn/Co is 1:2) with ony 0.91 wt% Pt loading exhibits prominent electrochemical performance. As cathode catalyst in 0.5 M H2SO4 for water splitting, Pt-WC-1,10/BMZ exhibits high current density (η10 = 23 mV) superior to 20% Pt/C (η10 = 33 mV) and long stability at least 3000 cyclic voltammetry cycles and 8 h for chronopotentiometry test. At −33 mV, the Pt mass activity of Pt-WC-1,10/BMZ is 37.7 times higher than 20% Pt/C. The outstanding stability is attributed to metal particles-fixed in porous carbon structure.