• • PtNi-BTC-C10 achieves an overpotential of only 41 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline HER, outperforming commercial Pt/C and reducing energy losses by ~20% at typical electrolyzer operating currents.
• • The catalyst exhibits a Tafel slope of 31.1 mV dec−1, indicating rapid Volmer-Heyrovsky kinetics, which is critical for high-rate hydrogen production and lower dynamic overpotential losses.
• • Long-term durability shows 90.7% current retention after 70 h of continuous operation, far exceeding Pt/C, which is essential for industrial electrolyzer lifetime and cost amortization.
• • DFT calculations reveal a favorable H* adsorption free energy of 0.262 eV on the Pt-Ni cluster, confirming optimized electronic structure that balances water dissociation and hydrogen desorption, directly correlating with the measured activity.