Development of a Novel Pt3V Alloy Electrocatalyst for Highly Efficient and Durable Industrial Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Acid Environment

Abstract Alloying platinum with early transition metals is a promising approach to optimize the adsorption behaviors of catalysts. Nevertheless, the large negative redox potential between early transition metals and Pt hinders the fabrication of such alloys. Herein, a strategy combining the thermal shock technique with electrochemical activation to prepare Pt 3 V alloy as a hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst is reported for the first time. Electrochemical tests show that the as‐prepared catalyst exhibits exceptional catalytic activity and durability in 0.5 m H 2 SO 4 , surpassing the state‐of‐the‐art 20 wt.% Pt/C. The catalyst can maintain its activity after 100 h tests without evident decay under the current density of 500 mA cm −2 . Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the optimized hydrogen absorption and high vacancy formation energy of Pt 3 V contributes to the enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability. This work may spur future research for other Pt‐based early transition metal alloy catalysts for electrocatalysis.