Tunable charge Pt sites-dominated alloy confined by mxene-derived oxycarbide enables ultra-stable ampere-level hydrogen production

Here, we introduce a porous electrocatalyst of NiPt nanostructures owning ultra-low Pt loading (1.22 wt%) and tunable charge Pt sites-dominated surface confined in MXene-derived NiV oxycarbide nanospheres (NiPt@NVOC). The material with unique morphological and structural integrity and adjusted electronic configuration delivers rich exposition of negatively charged Pt active centers to lower water dissociation energy barrier and kinetically favor intermediate's adsorption and hydrogen production, thus requiring overpotential of only 11.9 and 35.6 mV to reach 10 mA cm⁻² in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ and 1.0 M KOH, respectively. The practicability of NiPt@NVOC-based cathode via an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer stack demonstrates small voltage of 1.70/1.83 V to reach high current density of 0.5/1.0 A cm⁻² in 1.0 M KOH at 60 ^°C and remarkable durability at 1.0 A cm⁻² over 2000 hours of continuous operation. The findings mark significant progress in the development of advanced electrocatalysts for hydrogen production application.