Structural Transformation of Heterogeneous Materials for Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

Electrochemical water splitting for hydrogen generation is a promising pathway for renewable energy conversion and storage. One of the most important issues for efficient water splitting is to develop cost-effective and highly efficient electrocatalysts to drive sluggish oxygen-evolution reaction (OER) at the anode side. Notably, structural transformation such as surface oxidation of metals or metal nonoxide compounds and surface amorphization of some metal oxides during OER have attracted growing attention in recent years. The investigation of structural transformation in OER will contribute to the indepth understanding of accurate catalytic mechanisms and will finally benefit the rational design of catalytic materials with high activity. In this Review, we provide an overview of heterogeneous materials with obvious structural transformation during OER electrocatalysis. To gain insight into the essence of structural transformation, we summarize the driving forces and critical factors that affect the transformation process. In addition, advanced techniques that are used to probe chemical states and atomic structures of transformed surfaces are also introduced. We then discuss the structure of active species and the relationship between catalytic performance and structural properties of transformed materials. Finally, the challenges and prospects of heterogeneous OER electrocatalysis are presented.

In Situ Investigation on Life‐Time Dynamic Structure–Performance Correlation Toward Electrocatalyst Service Behavior in Water Splitting

“…Recently, numerous phase reconstruction studies have been conducted during OER and HER. [11,14] In terms of the OER process, electrocatalysts are generally oxidized to oxyhydroxides with high valence metal sites, while in the HER condition, electrocatalysts may be reduced to a new structure with low valence metal sites. [15,16] As a result, the pristine material only serve as precatalysts and the reconstructed phase is the truly active phase.…”

Recent Advances in Porphyrin-Based Systems for Electrochemical Oxygen Evolution Reaction

“…With the increasing population, the development of industry, the excessive consumption of fossil fuels, and the growing energy and environmental crises demand a sustainable energy supply. Water-splitting devices, metal–air batteries (i.e., Zn–air batteries), etc., are regarded as the new generation of energy conversion and storage techniques due to their advantages of low cost, environmental friendliness, and their use of a wide source of raw materials [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. In the course of research, oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as one of the critical half-reactions, plays a vital role.…”

Cascading reconstruction to induce highly disordered Fe–Ni(O)OH toward enhanced oxygen evolution reaction

“…Most of transition-metal-based materials will experience structural and compositional transformation in such an OER testing condition. [20][21][22][23][24][25] Interestingly, the electrochemical transformation could activate the transition-metalbased catalysts to exhibit better performance than the pristine one and those prepared by traditional methods. The increased catalytic activity could be attributed to the newly formed lowcrystalline or amorphous phases with abundant defeats, element doping, and more active sites.…”