Pt-enhanced WO nanoparticles for efficient hydrogen production: synthesis and electrochemical evaluation.

In this study, Pt/WO nanoparticles were synthesized using a simple room-temperature impregnation-reduction method and characterized by advanced techniques including ICP, TEM-EDX, FE-SEM-EDX, and XRD. The ICP-OES analysis confirmed a 1.0 wt. % Pt loading on the WO support. TEM and FE-SEM analyses revealed that the Pt nanoparticles were well dispersed with an average size of approximately 3.7 nm. The XRD patterns showed characteristic WO peaks without any detectable Pt diffraction peaks, indicating the high dispersion of Pt. Electrochemical evaluations demonstrated that the Pt/WO catalyst exhibited outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance, with -27.8 mV vs. RHE onset potential and -37.4 mV overpotential at 10 mA.cm, outperforming bare WO. The Tafel slope (b) of 68.6 mV·dec indicates efficient reaction kinetics following the Volmer-Heyrovsky pathway. The impedance analysis confirmed efficient charge transfer, with a b value of 69.7 mV.dec. The ECSA was calculated as 8.575 cm, highlighting the high surface activity of the catalyst. Stability tests showed minor degradation but retained significant catalytic activity. This work emphasizes the potential of Pt/WO as an environmentally friendly, cost-efficient catalyst with promising applications in HER, providing a scalable and effective approach to hydrogen production.