Enhanced electrochemical hydrogen storage performance upon the Pt-Co nanoparticles decorated N-doped mesoporous carbon

Abstract

Carbonaceous materials are proved to be the promising materials for storing hydrogen electrochemically. To enhance the performance, decorated Pt-Co bi-metallic nanoparticles onto the N-doped mesoporous carbon material were developed while Co enriched the capacity, and Pt was used to enhance the kinetic performance. Results showed that the hydrogen storage capacity of 2% Pt-Co@NMC material was over 360 mAh g−1 under a current density of 100 mA g−1, and the capacity retention was 53.6% under the 2000 mA g−1 rate over that at 100 mA g−1. Furthermore, it also carries low self-discharge and good cycling performance. First-principles calculations revealed that the adsorption of the H atom on the Pt (110) crystal plane is the most stable, which is mainly due to the hydrogen spillover effect to improve the kinetic performance of hydrogen intercalation.