The effective non‐precious metal catalysts toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are highly desirable for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, we prepare a novel glass‐ceramic (Ni1.5Sn@triMPO4) by embedding crystalline Ni1.5Sn nanoparticles into amorphous trimetallic phosphate (triMPO4) matrix. This unique crystalline‐amorphous nanostructure synergistically accelerates the surface reconstruction to active Ni(Fe)OOH, due to the low vacancy formation energy of Sn in glass‐ceramic and high adsorption energy of PO43− at the VO sites. Compared to the control samples, this dual‐phase glass‐ceramic exhibits a remarkably lowered overpotential and boosted OER kinetics after surface reconstruction, rivaling most of state‐of‐the‐art electrocatalysts. The residual PO43− and intrinsic VO sites induce redistribution of electron states, thus optimizing the adsorption of OH* and OOH* intermediates on metal oxyhydroxides and promoting the OER activity.

A paired electrochemical refinery toward cathodic nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR) and anodic glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) driven by renewable electricity could generate high value-added ammonia and formic acid, simultaneously. However,...

Galvanic replacement is a versatile approach to prepare hollow nanostructures with controllable morphology and elemental composition. The primary issue is to identify its fundamental mechanism. In this study, in situ liquid cell transmission electron microscopy was employed to monitor the dynamic reaction process and to explore the mechanism of galvanic replacement. The detailed reaction process was revealed based on in situ experiments in which small Au particles first appeared around Ag nanowires; they coalesced, grew, and adhered to Ag nanowires. After that, small pits grew from the edge of Ag nanowires to form tubular structures, and then extended along the Ag nanowires to obtain hollowed structures. All of our experimental observations from the viewpoint of electron microscopy, combined with DFT calculations, contribute towards an in‐depth understanding of the galvanic replacement reaction process and the design of new materials with hollow structures.

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The effective non‐precious metal catalysts toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are highly desirable for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, we prepare a novel glass‐ceramic (Ni1.5Sn@triMPO4) by embedding crystalline Ni1.5Sn nanoparticles into amorphous trimetallic phosphate (triMPO4) matrix. This unique crystalline‐amorphous nanostructure synergistically accelerates the surface reconstruction to active Ni(Fe)OOH, due to the low vacancy formation energy of Sn in glass‐ceramic and high adsorption energy of PO43− at the VO sites. Compared to the control samples, this dual‐phase glass‐ceramic exhibits a remarkably lowered overpotential and boosted OER kinetics after surface reconstruction, rivaling most of state‐of‐the‐art electrocatalysts. The residual PO43− and intrinsic VO sites induce redistribution of electron states, thus optimizing the adsorption of OH* and OOH* intermediates on metal oxyhydroxides and promoting the OER activity.

Noble-metal-free photocatalysts have attracted tremendous interest in recent years. Among them, cadmium sulfide (CdS) has been considered as one of the most important photocatalysts with potential applications in hydrogen evolution. However, its efficiency is relatively low due to the fast recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. In this work, defective CdS nanospheres were designed. NiS quantum dots were introduced to facilitate the efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes. Without noble metals, the hydrogen production of CdS nanospheres with NiS quantum dots is ∼ 24 times higher than that of pure CdS nanospheres, demonstrating the key role of NiS quantum dots for highly efficient separation of the photogenerated carriers. Meanwhile, the designed photocatalysts have good stability. They can maintain ∼ 90% of photocatalytic activity during stability measurements. A potential photocatalytic mechanism was proposed.