Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction with Bulk and Nanostructured Mitrofanovite Pt3 Te4
Here, we discuss the key features of electrocatalysis with mitrofanovite (Pt3 Te4 ), a recently discovered mineral with superb performances in hydrogen evolution reaction. Mitrofanovite is a layered topological metal with spin-polarized topological surface states with potential applications for spintronics. However, mitrofanovite is also an exceptional platform for electrocatalysis, with costs of the electrodes suppressed by 47% owing to the partial replacement of Pt with Te. Remarkably, the Tafel slope in nanostructured mitrofanovite is just 33 mV/dec, while reduced mitrofanovite has the same Tafel slope (36 mV/dec) as state-of-the-art electrodes of pure Pt. Mitrofanovite also affords surface stability and robustness to CO poisoning. Accordingly, these findings pave the way for the advent of mitrofanovite for large-scale hydrogen production. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. ; Funding: D.W.B. acknowledges support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (through the basic part of the government mandate, Project No. FEUZ-2020– 0060) and the Jiangsu Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents Project. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under Project PID2019–109525RB-I00. D.F. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the "Maríade Maeztu" Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (CEX2018-000805-M). I.V., J. F., and P.T. thank NFFA-Trieste.