Recent Development in Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Catalysts and Their Practical Implementation

Abstract

The past 10 years have seen great advances in the field of electrochemical hydrogen evolution. In particular, several new nonprecious metal electrocatalysts, for example, the MoS2 or the Ni2P family of materials, have emerged as contenders for electrochemical hydrogen evolution under harsh acidic conditions offering nearly platinum-like catalytic performance. The developments have been particularly fast in the last 5 years, and the present Perspective highlights key developments and discusses them, along with hydrogen evolution in general, in the context of the global energy problem.

Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Electrolytes: Mechanisms, Challenges, and Prospective Solutions

“…Therefore, to‐date, the PGMs‐based catalysts have been predominantly used to generate H 2 from alkaline water at industrial scale 28, 29. However, to find alternative HER catalysts to produce hydrogen from electrocatalytic water splitting on global scale in alkaline medium, a world‐wide aggressive research has been undertaken recently.…”

Effect of edge plasmons on the optical properties of MoS2 monolayer flakes

“…In a different context, MoS 2 nanoparticles are of interest as nonprecious catalysts for hydrodesulphurization of crude oil products [9] and as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction [10]. It is understood that the edges of the MoS 2 nanoclusters are catalytically active [11][12][13] and that this is due to the existence of metallic states present at certain edge configurations [14][15][16][17][18].…”

Sulfur-Depleted Monolayered Molybdenum Disulfide Nanocrystals for Superelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…15,16 Nevertheless, the majority of metal atoms in these particles remain within the basal plane away from particle edges, which unfortunately are catalytically inactive. 2,5,8 Large production of hydrogen (H 2 ) [with high exchange current density (j) at low overpotentials] also cannot be simply achieved using multiple layers of catalyst, which is rarely recognized (i.e. the stacking of monolayers also dramatically decreases catalytic performance, which will be confirmed in Figure 3d and Figure 5b).…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The most effective catalysts today are precious metals (e.g. Pt) but their scarcity and prohibitive expense limits their practical implementation.…”