A facile strategy for ultrasmall Pt NPs being partially-embedded in N-doped carbon nanosheet structure for efficient electrocatalysis

A facile strategy is established for constructing composite nanostructure with ultrasmall Pt nanoparticles (NPs) of ∼2 nm in diameter being homogeneously embedded in N-doped carbon nanosheets. The strong coordination between Pt atoms in cisplatin and N atoms in pyrrole contributes to the robust embedding of Pt NP into the N-doped carbon nanosheets after annealing. Such a unique partially-embedding structure facilitates the active site exposure while stabilizing the ultrasmall Pt NPs, leading to the comparable electrochemical activities for hydrogen evolution and oxygen reduction reactions, and substantially improves durability performance compared to that of the state-of-the-art Pt/C (20 wt%).