Atomically dispersed Pt-O coordination boosts highly active and durable acidic hydrogen evolution reaction

Noble metals atomically anchored on supporters has given rise to a series of excellent heterogeneous catalysts. Nevertheless, the stability of single-atom catalysts (SACs) is of great challenge for large-scale practical applications due to their highly unsaturated coordination environment. In this work, a doping confinement strategy was employed to tightly immobilize single atoms from agglomeration and detachment through a strong metal-supporter interaction (MSI) of Pt-O coordination. Combining with theoretical calculation, the highly oxidized platinum in MoO3 not only optimizes its electronic properties with good conductivity but also offers more active sites towards hydrogen production. Thus, the doped system presents a considerable HER performance with an overpotential of 26 ± 1 mV at 10 mA/cm2 as well as excellent catalytical stability of at least 125 h in acidic media. It also displays an outstanding mass activity of 500 A/gPt at an overpotential of 23 mV, which far outstrips that of commercial Pt/C. This work may pave a novel and facile strategy to stabilize SAC for the development of high-performance HER electrocatalysts in the future.