One-pot synthesis of PtNi/carbon composites derived from polytetrahydrofuran for bifunctional alkaline HER and ORR

초록

Developing robust carbon-supported electrocatalysts through simplified synthesis is crucial for scalable hydrogen-energy technologies. Herein, we report a one-pot, poly(tetrahydrofuran) (PTHF)-derived PtNi/C architecture in which PTHF serves as a carbon precursor/support and enables in situ carbonization of PTHF to a carbon-bridged nanoparticle network during Pt–Ni nucleation and alloying in a single thermal step. The resulting catalyst delivers efficient alkaline HER and, importantly, sustains hydrogen evolution deep into the high-current-density regime with strong operational durability, addressing a key limitation of many PtNi-based catalysts commonly evaluated only at low currents. Impedance and surface-accessibility analyses indicate that the integrated carbon framework lowers interfacial resistive losses and stabilizes electrode connectivity, thereby reducing voltage penalties under high-rate operation. Beyond HER, the same junction-engineered PtNi/C also shows promising alkaline ORR activity with a predominantly near four-electron pathway, highlighting the broader utility of this carbon-integration concept. © 2026 Korean Chemical Society and Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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