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Electrocatalyst engineering and structure-activity relationship in hydrogen evolution reaction: From nanostructures to single atoms

析氢反应中电催化剂设计与构效关系: 从纳米结构到单原子

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Abstract

With the ever-pressing issues of global energy demand and environmental pollution, molecular hydrogen has been receiving increasing attention as a clean alternative energy carrier. For hydrogen production, the design and development of high-performance catalysts remains rather challenging. As the compositions and structures of catalyst interfaces have paramount influences on the catalytic performances, the central topic here has always been to design and engineer the interface structures via rational routes so as to boost the activities and stabilities of electrocatalysts on hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here in this review, we focus on the design and preparation of multi-scale catalysts specifically catering to HER applications. We start from the design and structure-activity relationship of catalytic nanostructures, summarize the research progresses related to HER nanocatalysts, and interpret their high activities from the atomistic perspective; then, we review the studies regarding the design, preparation, HER applications and structure-activity relationship of single-atom site catalysts (SASCs), and thereupon discuss the future directions in designing HER-oriented SASCs. At the end of this review, we present an outlook on the development trends and faced challenges of catalysts for electrochemical HER.

摘要

随着全球能源需求的增加和环境污染的加剧, 氢能作为一种新型的能源越来越受到广泛的关注. 高效催化剂的设计和开发是制氢研究中极具挑战性的难题. 催化剂的表界面组成与结构对其 性能具有极其重要的影响, 如何科学地设计调控催化材料表界面结构来提高电催化析氢反应的活性和稳定性一直是催化领域研究的重点. 本综述针对电催化析氢体系中的多尺度催化剂设计合成为研究对象, 以纳米结构催化剂的设计及构效关系为出发点, 总结了目前针对电催化析氢反应的纳米催化剂的合成及构效关系的研究进展, 从原子尺度提出纳米催化剂高活性的起源. 结合目前报道的各种单原子催化剂的设计合成、 在析氢反应中的应用及构效关系的研究, 讨论了设计定向单原子位点析氢催化剂的方向, 同时对电解水制氢催化剂的发展趋势和挑战进行了展望.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0202801, 2017YFA0700101 and 2018YFA0702003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21925202, 21872076 and 21890383), Bei**g Natural Science Foundation (JQ18007), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (19CX02008A), the Petro China Innovation Foundation (2019D-5007-0401), Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province (tsqn201909065), and Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China

    Yuan Pan  (潘原), Zhi Liu  (刘智) & Minmin Wang  (王敏敏)

  2. Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Bei**g, 100084, China

    Yuan Pan  (潘原), Chao Zhang  (张超) & Chen Chen  (陈晨)

  3. College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China

    Yan Lin  (林燕)

Authors
  1. Yuan Pan  (潘原)
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  2. Chao Zhang  (张超)
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  3. Yan Lin  (林燕)
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  4. Zhi Liu  (刘智)
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  5. Minmin Wang  (王敏敏)
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  6. Chen Chen  (陈晨)
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Contributions

Author contributions Pan Y and Chen C wrote the manuscript. Zhang C and Lin Y revised the manuscript. Liu Z and Wang M drew the figures. Chen C supervised the project, directed the research and established the final version of the manuscript. All authors participated in the general discussion.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chen Chen  (陈晨).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Yuan Pan received his PhD from the College of Chemical Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China) in 2016. After postdoctoral work at Tsinghua University, he joined the College of Chemical Engineering at China University of Petroleum (East China) as an associate professor in 2019. His research interests focus on the design and synthesis of novel nanomaterials and single-atom materials for catalytic application.

Chen Chen received his BS degree from the Department of Chemistry, Bei**g Institute of Technology in 2006, and his PhD degree from the Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University in 2011. After postdoctoral work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University as an associate professor in 2015. His research interests focus on nanomaterials and catalysis.

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Pan, Y., Zhang, C., Lin, Y. et al. Electrocatalyst engineering and structure-activity relationship in hydrogen evolution reaction: From nanostructures to single atoms. Sci. China Mater. 63, 921–948 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-019-1242-1

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