A general synthesis approach for amorphous noble metal nanosheets

Noble metal nanomaterials have been widely used as catalysts. Common techniques for the synthesis of noble metal often result in crystalline nanostructures. The synthesis of amorphous noble metal nanostructures remains a substantial challenge. We present a general route for preparing dozens of different amorphous noble metal nanosheets with thickness less than 10 nm by directly annealing the mixture of metal acetylacetonate and alkali salts. Tuning atom arrangement of the noble metals enables to optimize their catalytic properties. Amorphous Ir nanosheets exhibit a superior performance for oxygen evolution reaction under acidic media, achieving 2.5-fold, 17.6-fold improvement in mass activity (at 1.53 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode) over crystalline Ir nanosheets and commercial IrO2 catalyst, respectively. In situ X-ray absorption fine structure spectra indicate the valance state of Ir increased to less than + 4 during the oxygen evolution reaction process and recover to its initial state after the reaction. While noble metal usage in catalysis is ubiquitous, the metals’ scarcity necessitates new materials designs for efficient utilization. Here, authors report a general strategy to prepare amorphous noble metal nanosheets and find the nanomaterials to act as efficient water-splitting electrocatalysts.