Carbon-supported platinum-based electrocatalysts for alkaline hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Water electrolysis hydrogen production technology directly generates high-purity hydrogen through electrochemical water splitting, serving as a key technology for achieving zero-carbon emission hydrogen production. Alkaline water electrolysis demonstrates marked advantages in efficiency and rapidly developing anode catalysts in an alkaline medium. Nevertheless, the sluggish kinetics of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at the cathode in an alkaline environment constitute a fundamental bottleneck that restricts the extensive application of this technology. Platinum, serving as the benchmark catalyst for the HER, is limited in its large-scale development due to its scarcity and high cost. In comparison, carbon-supported platinum-based catalysts exhibit exceptional HER catalytic activity and stability, driven by their unique electronic architecture and the synergistic effect with the support. In this review, we comprehensively examine the latest progress of carbon-supported platinum-based materials for the alkaline HER, summarize the factors contributing to the slow kinetics of the HER in an alkaline environment, and then focus on the strategies for modifying the carbon substrate and synthesizing carbon-supported platinum-based nanomaterials. Finally, the review critically evaluates existing challenges and proposes targeted research directions to advance Pt-based electrocatalysts for practical alkaline hydrogen evolution systems.