Amorphous materials demonstrate superior potential over crystalline materials in efficient clean energy catalysis due to their abundant active sites and unique electronic configurations. However, their synthesis and composition optimization remain largely unexplored due to demanding formation conditions. This study successfully prepared platinum-nickel-phosphorus (PtNiP) ternary amorphous nanoparticles within milliseconds using flash Joule heating technology—the ultrafast cooling characteristic of this method enables the vitrification of metal precursors. After composition optimization, the Pt₄Ni₄P₁ amorphous nanoparticles achieved a near-ideal hydrogen adsorption Gibbs free energy of 0.02 eV, surpassing even benchmark platinum catalysts.
In acidic electrolyte hydrogen evolution reactions (HER), this material exhibited exceptional performance (η₁₀ ∼ 14 mV, Tafel slope ∼ 18 mV dec⁻¹, mass activity 5 times higher than commercial Pt/C). Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis confirmed that this method significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and manufacturing costs compared to existing industrial processes.
Publication Highlights
The research, titled "Coupling Amorphization and Compositional Optimization of Ternary Metal Phosphides toward High-Performance Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production," was recently published in JACS.
Co-first authors: Bing Deng (Tsinghua University, Special Researcher), Zhen-Yu Wu (Southern University of Science and Technology, Associate Professor)
Corresponding authors: Bing Deng, Haotian Wang (Rice University, Associate Professor), Yufeng Zhao (Colburn University, Professor), James M. Tour (Rice University, Professor)
Paper Link:
Bing Deng#,*, Zhen-Yu Wu,# Erkang Feng, Lu Ma, Zhe Wang, Jinhang Chen, Lucas Eddy, Alexander Lathem, Teng Wang, Weiyin Chen, Yi Cheng, Shichen Xu, Qiming Liu, Boris I. Yakobson, Haotian Wang,* Yufeng Zhao,* James M. Tour,* Coupling amorphization and compositional optimization of ternary metal phosphides toward ideal electrocatalytic hydrogen production, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2025, 147, 19, 16129-16140.
