Exploring the Defect Sites in UiO-66 by Decorating Platinum Nanoparticles for an Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

UiO-66 has been tailored using defect engineering methodology to introduce thiol functionalities into the MOF skeletal structure. The thiolated UiO-66 serves as a scaffold to support the platinum nanoparticles with a size of ∼2 nm through a soft-soft interaction. This Pt@UiO-66-SH, utilized as an HER catalyst, exhibited an overpotential of 57 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm in an acidic medium with a Tafel slope of 75 mV/dec and a high TOF value (389.37 s). This catalyst showed long-term durability for 30 h, specifying the potential of the material to produce neat hydrogen.