Asymmetric Interfacial Charge Gradients Enable Dual‐Pathway Proton Transfer for High‐Flux Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution

ABSTRACT Accelerating water dissociation while maintaining efficient proton transfer remains a substantial challenge in high‐flux alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, we introduce an interfacial engineering strategy to develop a high‐flux alkaline HER electrocatalyst with controllable spatially asymmetric interfacial charge gradients, by incorporating size‐tunable Ni nanoparticles at Mo 2 N/Ni 0.2 Mo 0.8 N interfacial regions to create a Ni‐nanoparticle‐bridged dual‐interface heterogeneous structure with coordinated proton‐transfer pathways. The resultant electrocatalyst achieves an industrial current density of 1.0 A cm −2 at 1.74 V in an anion‐exchange membrane electrolyzer, outperforming commercial Pt/C by 10%, while sustaining 100 h intermittent operation under 10–1000 mA cm −2 current cycling, demonstrating robust operational stability under high‐flux conditions. Such high‐flux HER capability can be attributed to the formation of asymmetric charge gradients along the Ni/Mo 2 N and Ni/Ni 0.2 Mo 0.8 N interfaces, which reorient interfacial water molecules into favorable configurations to promote dissociation at apical Ni nanoparticle sites and continuously supply protons. Simultaneously, the generated protons are directed through two coordinated pathways consisting of electrostatically guided surface migration at the negatively polarized Ni/Mo 2 N interface and hydrogen‐bond‐network‐mediated hopping at the positively polarized Ni/Ni 0.2 Mo 0.8 N interface, safeguarding against proton‐transfer bottlenecks and active‐site blockage under high‐flux conditions. This work establishes interfacial charge gradient regulation as a design principle for high‐flux alkaline HER.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Energy Materials
Published
2026-10-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.71702
Primary Topic
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Asymmetric Interfacial Charge Gradients Enable Dual‐Pathway Proton Transfer for High‐Flux Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution

Chaoran Pi, Junwei Sun, Kaifu Huo, Xin Tian et al.
Advanced Energy Materials
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
article

Asymmetric Interfacial Charge Gradients Enable Dual‐Pathway Proton Transfer for High‐Flux Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution

Chaoran Pi, Junwei Sun, Kaifu Huo, Xin Tian, Ruifeng Zhang, Xuming Zhang, Zhihong Liu, Lixing Yu, Qiqin Hu, Shengya Li
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Accelerating water dissociation while maintaining efficient proton transfer remains a substantial challenge in high‐flux alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, we introduce an interfacial engineering strategy to develop a high‐flux alkaline HER electrocatalyst with controllable spatially asymmetric interfacial charge gradients, by incorporating size‐tunable Ni nanoparticles at Mo 2 N/Ni 0.2 Mo 0.8 N interfacial regions to create a Ni‐nanoparticle‐bridged dual‐interface heterogeneous structure with coordinated proton‐transfer pathways. The resultant electrocatalyst achieves an industrial current density of 1.0 A cm −2 at 1.74 V in an anion‐exchange membrane electrolyzer, outperforming commercial Pt/C by 10%, while sustaining 100 h intermittent operation under 10–1000 mA cm −2 current cycling, demonstrating robust operational stability under high‐flux conditions. Such high‐flux HER capability can be attributed to the formation of asymmetric charge gradients along the Ni/Mo 2 N and Ni/Ni 0.2 Mo 0.8 N interfaces, which reorient interfacial water molecules into favorable configurations to promote dissociation at apical Ni nanoparticle sites and continuously supply protons. Simultaneously, the generated protons are directed through two coordinated pathways consisting of electrostatically guided surface migration at the negatively polarized Ni/Mo 2 N interface and hydrogen‐bond‐network‐mediated hopping at the positively polarized Ni/Ni 0.2 Mo 0.8 N interface, safeguarding against proton‐transfer bottlenecks and active‐site blockage under high‐flux conditions. This work establishes interfacial charge gradient regulation as a design principle for high‐flux alkaline HER.

Advanced Energy Materials
Jianghan University (CN), Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (CN), Wuhan University of Science and Technology (CN), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 35%
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
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