Single Platinum Atoms Immobilized on an MXene as an Efficient Catalyst for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Single-atom catalysts offer a pathway to cost-efficient catalysis using the minimal amount of precious metals. This chapter reports the synthesis of double transition metal MXene nanosheets—Mo2TiC2Tx, with abundant exposed basal planes and Mo vacancies in the outer layers—by electrochemical exfoliation, enabled by the interaction between protons and the surface functional groups of Mo2TiC2Tx. Hydrogen has been considered promising as a clean energy carrier to replace fossil fuels and can be produced by electrocatalytic water splitting. The strong covalent interactions between single atoms and such a matrix can efficiently anchor the individual atoms, avoiding the formation of aggregated particles. Single metal atoms trapped by defect sites in transition metal compounds form a unique class of single-atom catalysts.