The highly efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) provides a promising pathway to resolve energy and environment problems. An electrocatalyst was designed with single Mo atoms (Mo-SAs) supported on N-doped carbon having outstanding HER performance. The structure of the catalyst was probed by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC-STEM) and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy, indicating the formation of Mo-SAs anchored with one nitrogen atom and two carbon atoms (Mo N C ). Importantly, the Mo N C catalyst displayed much more excellent activity compared with Mo C and MoN, and better stability than commercial Pt/C. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation revealed that the unique structure of Mo N C moiety played a crucial effect to improve the HER performance. This work opens up new opportunities for the preparation and application of highly active and stable Mo-based HER catalysts.

The electrochemical direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) is significant but still challenging because of the lack of highly selective and active catalysts. Here, we report the synthesis of hollow nanospheres constructed by atomically dispersing platinum in amorphous CuS x support (h-Pt 1 -CuS x ) with a high concentration of single atomic Pt sites (24.8 at%), and this catalyst can consistently reduce O 2 into H 2 O 2 with selectivity of 92%-96% over a wide potential range of 0.05-0.7 V versus RHE in HClO 4 electrolyte. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy confirmed the atomically isolated form of Pt with a low valance of +0.75. An electrochemical device that can synthesize H 2 O 2 directly from H 2 and O 2 is fabricated with H 2 O 2 productivity as high as 546 G 30 mol kg cat À1 h À1 . The well-defined and high-concentration single atomic Pt sites result in ultrahigh productivity of H 2 O 2 .

Catalysts for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in alkaline electrolyte are important for anion exchange membrane fuel cells. Understanding the role of OH during the HOR catalytic process in alkaline electrolyte is essential to design highly active HOR catalysts. Here, we attempt to isolate the influence of OH by using surface-controlled Pt based nanoparticles as the model catalysts. With a comparison of the HOR activity between PtNi nanoparticles and acid washed PtNi nanoparticles, which have almost the same hydrogen binding energies but much different OH binding energies, it was found that the HOR activity in alkaline electrolyte is not mainly controlled by the OH adsorption. Therefore, a bifunctional catalyst promoting OH adsorption may not useful for HOR in alkaline electrolyte. Tuning the hydrogen binding energy was found to be an efficient way to enhance the HOR activity, and making Pt base alloy is a reasonable way to tune the hydrogen binding energies.

High-efficiency water electrolysis is the key to sustainable energy. Here we report a highly active and durable RuIrOx (x ≥ 0) nano-netcage catalyst formed during electrochemical testing by in-situ etching to remove amphoteric ZnO from RuIrZnOx hollow nanobox. The dispersing-etching-holing strategy endowed the porous nano-netcage with a high exposure of active sites as well as a three-dimensional accessibility for substrate molecules, thereby drastically boosting the electrochemical surface area (ECSA). The nano-netcage catalyst achieved not only ultralow overpotentials at 10 mA cm−2 for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER; 12 mV, pH = 0; 13 mV, pH = 14), but also high-performance overall water electrolysis over a broad pH range (0 ~ 14), with a potential of mere 1.45 V (pH = 0) or 1.47 V (pH = 14) at 10 mA cm−2. With this universal applicability of our electrocatalyst, a variety of readily available electrolytes (even including waste water and sea water) could potentially be directly used for hydrogen production.

Two-dimensional (2D) organic–inorganic perovskites (OIPs), with improved material stability over their 3D counterparts, are highly desirable for device applications. It is their considerable structural diversity that offers an unprecedented opportunity to engineer materials with fine-tuning functionalities. The isosteric substitution of hydrogen by an electronegative fluorine atom has been proposed as a useful route to improve the photovoltaic performance of 2D OIPs, whereas its valuable role in developing ferroelectricity is still waiting for further exploration. Herein, for the first time we applied fluorinated aromatic cations in extending the family of 2D OIP ferroelectrics, and successfully obtained [2-fluorobenzylammonium]2PbCl4 as a high-performance ferroelectric semiconductor. The failures in the nonferroelectric [4-fluorobenzylammonium]2PbCl4 and [3-fluorobenzylammonium]2PbCl4 demonstrate that the selective introduction of fluorine in correct structural positions is particularly essential. This work represents an unprecedented proof-of-concept in the use of fluorinated aromatic cations for the targeted design of excellent 2D OIP ferroelectrics, and is believed to inspire the future development of low-cost, high-efficiency, and stable device applications.

Switchable materials play an invaluable role in signal processing and encryption of smart devices. The development of multifunctional materials that exhibit switching characteristics in multiple physical channels has attracted widespread attention. Now, two chiral thermochromic ferroelastic crystals (S‐CTA)2CuCl4 and (R‐CTA)2CuCl4 (CTA=3‐chloro‐2‐hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium) have been prepared with switchable properties in dielectricity, conductivity, second harmonic generation (SHG), piezoelectricity, ferroelasticity, chiral, and thermochromic properties. Compared with traditional phase‐transition materials with switching features, thermochromism brings additional spectral encryption possibilities for future information processing. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first chiral thermochromic ferroelastic that exhibits switching properties in seven physical channels. This work is expected to promote further exploration of multifunctional molecular switchable materials.

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