Rational Design of Superior Electrocatalysts for Water Oxidation: Crystalline or Amorphous Structure?

Abstract

Crystalline, amorphous, and crystalline–amorphous materials have become three important electrode materials for the bottleneck oxygen‐evolving reaction (OER) in the promising hydrogen‐producing technology of water splitting. With the rapid development of in situ/ex situ characterizations, the understanding of active sites in electrocatalysts has been deepened via the structure–activity/stability relationships extracted from the observations on catalysts during/after the OER. Herein, the origins of changes in initial crystalline, amorphous, and crystalline–amorphous materials during/after the OER are systematically analyzed and the underlying variation effects on catalyst activity and stability are discussed based on recent representative studies, aiming at guiding OER catalyst design in the future.

Recent Advances in Design of Electrocatalysts for High‐Current‐Density Water Splitting

“…[3] The growing demand for renewable energy is a main driving force behind the rising electricity use, in which two-thirds of it is expected to be generated from renewable resources in 2040, [3] with a projected made, especially in exploring active sites and developing new catalysts. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] These catalysts, however, are commonly studied under laboratory conditions (e.g., with current density of 1−100 mA cm −2 ) and research related to the water splitting is mainly focused on fundamental catalytic kinetics. [19] The optimization of a single physical property such as the Gibbs free energy of adsorption for intermediates at a low current density does not usually result in a good HCD performance because the activity and stability of catalysts are also affected by local reaction environment, which is closely related to current density.…”

Single‐Atom Fe Catalysts for Fenton‐Like Reactions: Roles of Different N Species

“…This unique structural characteristic endows SACs with strong metal support interactions (SMSIs) [6][7][8][9][10] and tailorable homogenized active metal sites. [11][12][13][14] SACs have been found to be very favorable in many fields, including electrocatalysis, [15][16][17][18] organocatalysis, [19][20][21] industrial catalysis, [22][23][24] and others. [25][26][27][28][29][30] Consequently, revealing the atomic structure of the central metal atoms and the SMSI in SACs has become an important subject of research because it provides possibilities for rational design of novel SACs for specific reactions.…”

Fundamental Understanding and Application of Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δPerovskite in Energy Storage and Conversion: Past, Present, and Future

“…These studies all suggest that the surface electronic structure and state of BSCF and, more importantly, their evolution under the realistic OER conditions are vital to the understanding of the catalytic behavior of BSCF. Nonetheless, it remains interesting and underexplored as to whether and how the bulk of the BSCF might participate in and affect the surface reconstruction …”

“…Nonetheless, it remains interesting and underexplored as to whether and how the bulk of the BSCF might participate in and affect the surface reconstruction. 149 3.2.1.3. Strategies toward Enhanced OER Catalysis.…”