Researchers developed a surface-kinetics model for the hydrogen evolution reaction, which produces hydrogen using electricity. They examined how the apparent activation energy and the temperature-dependent part of the reaction rate change with applied voltage and used the results to interpret patterns reported in experiments on different metal catalysts.
The model produced distinct kinetic signatures for different catalyst groups that qualitatively match recent experimental findings. The researchers also argue that the same framework can apply to other electrocatalytic reactions and experimental setups.
