Emerging nanostructured electrode materials for water electrolysis and rechargeable beyond Li-ion batteries

Abstract

This review describes recent advances in electrochemical water electrolysis and rechargeable beyond Li-ion battery research, two emergent and widely employed technologies playing important roles in clean energy production and storage. The principle components of these electrochemical processes are electrode materials, which are currently facing challenges in performance improvement, thus motivating the development of novel electrode materials. This development requires synergistic interactions between experimentalists and theorists with backgrounds in solid state chemistry, condensed matter physics, and materials science and engineering. In light of a large amount of literature covering the topic, we will focus this review on the seminal electrode materials that have been discovered in the last five years, such as transition metal chalcogenides, carbides, and phosphides, as well as 2D layered materials. Intensive cross-disciplinary research is also dedicated to nanostructuring and hybridization of the emerging electrode materials in order to maximize the efficiency and simultaneously to lower the cost of the processes. As the understanding of the nanoscale-related effects deepens, it opens important pathways to the discovery of further materials and their improvement.

Ba2Si3P6: 1D Nonlinear Optical Material with Thermal Barrier Chains

“…2,3 In ternary phases, tin atoms are octahedrally coordinated similar to the tin coordination in binary pnictides Sn4P3, Sn4As3, and Sn3P4. 4 Pnictides of lighter tetrels have different structural chemistry due to the tetra-coordinated nature of Si and Ge. Binary tetrel-pnictides, Tt-Pn (Tt = Si, Ge; Pn = P, As) phases are composed of layers with either TtPn or TtPn2 stoichiometry.…”

“…The binary tetrel-pnictides have been considered for numerous potential applications in batteries, thermoelectrics, photovoltaics, field-effect transistors, and infrared photodetectors. 4,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Ternary tetrel-pnictides where the Tt-Pn polyanion is modified through interactions with electropositive cations exhibit diverse structural chemistry which further expand the range of potential applications. The versatility in bonding in the polyanion results in crystal structures with different dimensionality ranging from 0D (Li8SiP4, AE4TtP4; AE = Ca, Sr, Ba; Tt = Si, Ge), 1D (K2SiP2, Ba4Si3P8, Ca3Si2P4), 2D (LiGe3As3, Li3Si7As8, Ca2Si2P4, NaGe6As6, Ba3Si4P6), and 3D (Li2SiP2, MgSiAs2, Mg3Si6As8, AE2SiP4; AE = Sr, Eu, Ba).…”

Chemical and Electrochemical Lithiation of van der Waals Tetrel‐Arsenides

“…Layered compounds have garnered increasing attention in recent years after the discovery of graphene, a single layer of graphite . Layered tetrel‐pnictides are versatile materials, displaying several interesting properties, such as superconductivity at 1.3 K in NaSn 2 As 2 and ultra‐low thermal conductivity in metallic Li 1− x Sn 2+ x As 2 .…”

Structure–Activity Relationships for Pt‐Free Metal Phosphide Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalysts

“…Currently, H 2 gas is produced via unsustainable steam reforming of hydrocarbons (C n H m + n H 2 O⇌( n + m / 2 )H 2 + n CO), which is an extremely energy‐ and cost‐intensive process that involves large emissions of greenhouse gases . In sharp contrast, water electrolysis (WE) presents one of the most attractive ways of producing H 2 (2H 2 O⇌O 2 +2H 2 ), with a high conversion efficiency and no greenhouse gas emissions …”