CHEM
In the literature: contested
Why hydrogen evolution on platinum slows down in alkaline solution
In plain words
Platinum makes hydrogen from water roughly a hundred times more slowly in basic solution than in acid. The reason for this slowdown is still disputed.
Precise statement
Explain the drop of the exchange current density of the hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions on Pt from pH 0 to pH 13 (about two orders of magnitude), distinguishing between hydrogen binding energy shifts, the interfacial water reorganization and the potential of zero free charge, and cation-hydroxyl interactions. An answer is a model that predicts the measured rate versus pH and versus cation identity.
What would settle it
pH- and cation-resolved kinetics on single-crystal Pt with in situ spectroscopy, matched by constant-potential simulations of the proton or water discharge step.