Interfacial work function matching enables efficient hydrogen spillover for superior alkaline hydrogen evolution

INTRODUCTION: The sluggish kinetics of alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) governed by the consecutive steps of water adsorption/dissociation and hydrogen desorption remains a major obstacle to efficient green hydrogen production. Though hydrogen spillover offers a promising strategy to bridge these steps, it requires overcoming high energy barriers at the metal-support interface as a prerequisite. OBJECTIVES: ) at the metal-metal interface, thereby minimizing the interfacial energy barrier and enhancing HER performance. METHODS: are precisely tailored to minimize the interfacial energy barrier for hydrogen spillover. RESULTS: , alongside remarkable long-term stability. CONCLUSION: This work not only establishes a general paradigm for the design of advanced hydrogen spillover-based catalysts but also provides fundamental insights into multi-step reactions involving hydrogen intermediates, paving the way for high-performance alkaline water electrolysis.