N doped carbon coated multi-metals nanoparticles decorated perovskite as electrocatalyst for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract The naturally scarce and costly precious metal as catalysts for electrochemical water electrolysis have prevent the large-scale applications in the transition of this technology. Therefore, it is emergency to explore for much cheaper and superior active scalable materials in making this technology to be more promising. The perovskite oxides, with rich constitutions and structures, can be easily to tune of the electrocatalytic applications by tailoring compositions. Herein, a highly efficient catalyst composed of nitrogen-doped carbon coated multi-metals core decorated Ruddlesden-Popper type structure (Pr0.4Sr0.6)3(Fe0.85Nb0.15)2O7 (NC-CF-PSFN) compounds is synthesized via a in situ growth of carbon nanotubes treatment that trigger their catalytic activities. The optimal electrocatalyst exhibits a significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by affording an overpotential of 124 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm−2, an onset potential of –12 mV vs. RHE, accompanied by an outstanding durability in acidic media, outperforming that of perovskite-based catalysts. The optimized internal/external interaction between the complex carbon and perovskite phases would contribute to modify its electrochemical performance. This protocol highlights a novel strategy to prepare excellent perovskite materials for applications in energy generation and storage.