Recent Advances in Manifold Exfoliated Synthesis of Two‐Dimensional Non‐precious Metal‐Based Nanosheet Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting

Abstract

Electrochemical water splitting has been widely recognized as efficient technology to produce high‐purity hydrogen as environmental‐friendly fuels. The main challenge of electrochemical water splitting is in the development of low‐cost earth‐abundant electrocatalysts to enable their large‐scale applications in industry. Two‐dimensional (2D) materials have been developed as promising electrocatalysts due to their abundant exposed active sites, high surface area and fast transfer ability of electrons. However, currently, there is a lack of review work in literature elucidating the most recent advances on the research and development of 2D precious‐free electrocatalysts and their state‐of‐the‐art performances in water splitting. Herein, the authors present a review of recent progress of development on diverse exfoliation methods for synthesizing multi‐category 2D non‐precious metal‐based (NPMB) electrocatalysts to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The leading methods are composed of guest ions or molecules‐assisted, auxiliary force‐assisted, electrochemical‐assisted exfoliation and additional exfoliation for fabricating these 2D NPMB nanosheets, including transition‐metal dichalcogenides, oxides, carbides, nitrides, layered double hydroxides, metal‐organic frameworks and mono‐elemental materials. The structure‐activity relationships of enhanced catalytic performance and downsizing nanostructure of corresponding 2D NPMB nanosheets are discussed. Finally, existent puzzle and prospective direction for designing synthesis methods of 2D NPMB electrocatalysts for water splitting are put forward.

Emerging Ultrahigh‐Density Single‐Atom Catalysts for Versatile Heterogeneous Catalysis Applications: Redefinition, Recent Progress, and Challenges

“…Electrochemical water splitting (EWS) has been widely considered as an effective technology to produce high‐purity H 2 fuel, where the main challenge of EWS is to develop low‐cost efficient electrocatalysts for large‐scale application in industry. [ 214 ] In particular, the development of alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) makes it possible for the industrial application of low‐cost nonprecious metal catalysts (NPCs) to electrolyze water and produce H 2 . [ 215 ] Generally, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and HER are two key reactions that constitute EWS, where the OER is particularly critical because of its slow kinetics and high overpotential.…”

Enhancing the coupling effect in a sandwiched FeNiPS3/graphite catalyst derived from graphite intercalation compounds for efficient oxygen evolution reaction

“…62,63 More importantly, the coupling effect between compact graphite layers and FeNiPS 3 further facilitates electron transfer for improving the interaction of FeNiPS 3 /GL and enhancing the catalytic OER performance. 61,64 To further explore the practical application of FeNiPS 3 /GL, a liquid zinc air battery (ZAB) was assembled by mixing FeNiPS 3 / GL with Pt/C as the air cathode, a zinc plate as anode and the mixed electrolyte including with 6.0 M KOH and 0.2 M Zn(OAc) 2 . The addition of the Pt/C catalyst was aimed to compensate the poor ORR performance of FeNiPS 3 /GL when applied in rechargeable ZABs.…”

“…62,63 More importantly, the coupling effect between compact graphite layers and FeNiPS 3 further facilitates electron transfer for improving the interaction of FeNiPS 3 /GL and enhancing the catalytic OER performance. 61,64…”

Nanostructured Metal Phosphide Based Catalysts for Electrochemical Water Splitting: A Review

“…[39] In the previous few years, multimetallic-based phosphides have been found to efficiently catalyze both HER and OER electrochemical reactions and exhibited higher activity as compared to single element counterparts due to highly tunable electronic structure. [40][41][42][43] Reports revealed that the combination of MPs with carbon nanotubes, graphene, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can further enhance the electrochemical performance by providing high specific surface area and electrical conductivity. [44][45][46][47] In this regard, some investigations have been dedicated particularly to applying MOF-derived electrocatalyst for water splitting.…”