A Mini Review on Transition Metal Chalcogenides for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting: Bridging Material Design and Practical Application

Abstract

Hydrogen is believed to be one of the essential clean secondary energy sources in the energy structure revolution of both industry and daily life. Driven by renewable electricity such as solar and wind power, water electrolysis for hydrogen production is deemed as one of the main processes of green hydrogen production in the future by both academia and industry. Transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) are promising candidates to replace noble metals as earth-abundant electrocatalysts for water splitting. However, it remains challenging to further improve the electrocatalytic activity and long-term stability of TMCs, especially in a practical water electrolyzer. This Review summarizes the recent advances and the strategies of optimizing the electrocatalytic activities of TMCs toward water splitting as well as the latest investigations on the surface reconstructions of TMCs during water electrolysis. The performances of TMCs in practical electrocatalytic water splitting cells are particularly discussed. Finally, a concluding remark and perspective is provided, and we hope to inspire future works in this area, narrowing the gap between material design and practical application.

NiMo/CoMoO4 Heterostructure with Confined Oxygen Vacancy for Active and Durable Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…So far, a variety of materials derived from transition metals (TMs) have been explored as high-efficiency electrocatalysts for HER and/or OER. − Among TM derivatives, TM oxides (TMOs) possess several benefits, such as high electrochemical activities, enhanced electronic conductivity in some casesas a result of their multiple oxidation states at interfaces, and relatively low activation energy for electron transfer between cations . In principle, hydrogen evolution in alkaline solutions consists of two steps: (i) adsorption of water to split into H* and OH* intermediates (Volmer step), followed by (ii) combination of H* intermediates to form H 2 and its desorption from the surface (Heyrovsky or Tafel step). , In addition, the Gibbs free energy (Δ G H* ) of hydrogen adsorption at the active site is an index to determine the HER performance of catalysts .…”

Recent advances in molybdenum diselenide-based electrocatalysts: preparation and application in the hydrogen evolution reaction

“…Chemical synthesis, which can effectively control the growth of material based on the expected morphology/structure/composition, should be widely developed in the future to construct a bridge between material design and practical application to perform the perfect unification of expected and actual HER performance. 219…”

“…Chemical synthesis, which can effectively control the growth of material based on the expected morphology/structure/composition, should be widely developed in the future to construct a bridge between material design and practical application to perform the perfect unification of expected and actual HER performance. 219 (iii) Single atom-modified MoSe 2 -based materials can effectively promote HER performance; 120,121 hence, singleatom HER catalysts is possible to be prepared, 220 which needs to be further strengthened. In addition, the integration of transition metal quantum dot composition into MoSe 2 materials needs to be widely explored to improve the HER performance.…”

Large-scale sonochemical fabrication of a Co3O4–CoFe2O4@MWCNT bifunctional electrocatalyst for enhanced OER/HER performances

“…In particular, oxides, chalcogenides, phosphides, and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) based on transition metals have gained popularity due to their superior performances and extended durability. 16–19 Since the above-discussed state-of-the-art electrocatalysts only show performance in one of these areas, it is both difficult and exciting to design a dual functional catalyst that can concurrently catalyze both hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reaction. 20…”

“…In particular, oxides, chalcogenides, phosphides, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) based on transition metals have gained popularity due to their superior performances and extended durability. [16][17][18][19] Since the above-discussed state-of-theart electrocatalysts only show performance in one of these areas, it is both difficult and exciting to design a dual functional catalyst that can concurrently catalyze both hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reaction. 20 Iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni)-based electrocatalysts have been the subject of extensive research in electrocatalysis processes because of their affordability, widespread accessibility, ease of fabrication, and high efficiency during electrocatalytic processes.…”