Room-Temperature Sustainable Synthesis of Selected Platinum Group Metal (PGM = Ir, Rh, and Ru) Nanocatalysts Well-Dispersed on Porous Carbon for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation.

Electroless deposition via a spontaneous redox reaction between the metal precursor and support is believed to be a promising approach for the syntheses of supported metal nanoparticles (SMNPs). However, its widespread applications are significantly prohibited by the low reductivity and high cost of support. To overcome these shortcomings, a porous carbon (PC) is herein developed as a promising matrix for the electroless deposition of metal NPs. Benefiting from abundant oxygen-based surface functional groups, the PC shows stronger reducibility (low redox potential) than conventional carbon substrate such as carbon nanotubes or graphene oxide, enabling a facile electroless deposition of Ir, Rh, and Ru NPs on its surface. These SMNPs exhibit an impressive electrocatalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) or hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). For example, the Rh NP/PC can deliver an HER current density of 10 mA cm-2 with a small overpotential of 21 mV in 0.5 m H2 SO4 , while the Ru NP/PC exhibits excellent HOR activity in 0.1 m KOH in terms of high mass and surface specific exchange current density of 263 A g-1 Ru and 0.227 mA cm-2 Ru . The present strategy may open up opportunities for mass production of efficient supported NPs for diverse applications.