Ionic Liquids as Promisingly Multi-Functional Participants for Electrocatalyst of Water Splitting: A Review

Abstract

Ionic liquids (ILs), as one of the most concerned functional materials in recent decades, have opened up active perspectives for electrocatalysis. In catalyst preparation, ILs act as characteristic active components besides media and templates. Compared with catalysts obtained using ordinary reagents, IL-derived catalysts have a special structure and catalytic performance due to the influence of IL’s special physicochemical properties and structures. This review mainly describes the use of ILs as modifiers and reaction reagents to prepare electrocatalysts for water splitting. The designability of ILs provides opportunities for the ingenious composition of cations or anions. ILs containing heteroatoms (N, O, S, P, etc.) and transition metal anion (FeCl4−, NiCl3−, etc.) can be used to directly prepare metal phosphides, sulfides, carbides and nitrides, and so forth. The special physicochemical properties and supramolecular structures of ILs can provide growth conditions for catalysts that are different from the normal media environment, inducing special structure and high performance. ILs as heteroatom sources are safe, green and easy to operate compared with traditional heteroatom sources. The strategy for using ILs as reagents is expected to realize 100% atomic transformation of reactants, in line with the concept of green chemistry. This review reflects the discovered work with the best findings from the literature. It will offer readers a deeper understanding on the development of IL-derived electrocatalysts and inspire them to ingeniously design high-performance electrocatalysts for water splitting.

Electrografting of Phenyl Phosphate Layers onto Glassy Carbon for Tuning Catalytic Activity toward the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…Notably, smaller nanoparticles were obtained when deposited onto the organic layer compared to those onto the bare GC electrode, leading to an increased electrochemical active surface and improved electrocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the chemical composition of the organic layer, which contained phosphorus, introduced heteroatoms that influenced the catalyst’s performance [ 38 , 39 ].…”

How To Get Isocyanate?

“…Ionic liquids (ILs), recognized as environmentally friendly solvents and functional materials, have attracted substantial attention in various scientific domains, including chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering. ILs serve diverse functions, such as catalysts, solvents, and catalyst carriers, and many catalytic reactions can be efficiently carried out in ionic liquid systems. − Because of their high thermal stability, lack of volatility, reusability, and low vapor pressure, ILs offer substantial advantages for the liquid-phase catalytic synthesis of isocyanates. Han et al conducted a thermal analysis to explore the changes in mass within the ionic liquid and organic solvent during the heating process while investigating the thermal decomposition of methyl 1,6-adipic carbamic acid (MHDC) in various ionic liquid media using Bi 2 O 3 /Fe 2 O 3 as a catalyst, as illustrated in Figure .…”