One-Dimensional Earth-Abundant Nanomaterials for Water-Splitting Electrocatalysts

Overview

Journal Adv Sci (Weinh)

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2017 Mar 24

PMID 28331791

Citations 25

Authors

Jun Li

Gengfeng Zheng

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Hydrogen fuel acquisition based on electrochemical or photoelectrochemical water splitting represents one of the most promising means for the fast increase of global energy need, capable of offering a clean and sustainable energy resource with zero carbon footprints in the environment. The key to the success of this goal is the realization of robust earth-abundant materials and cost-effective reaction processes that can catalyze both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with high efficiency and stability. In the past decade, one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials and nanostructures have been substantially investigated for their potential in serving as these electrocatalysts for reducing overpotentials and increasing catalytic activity, due to their high electrochemically active surface area, fast charge transport, efficient mass transport of reactant species, and effective release of gas produced. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in developing new 1D nanomaterials as catalysts for HER, OER, as well as bifunctional electrocatalysts for both half reactions. Different categories of earth-abundant materials including metal-based and metal-free catalysts are introduced, with their representative results presented. The challenges and perspectives in this field are also discussed.

Citing Articles

Boron phosphide microwires based on-chip electrocatalytic oxygen evolution microdevice.

Su H, Guo Q, Li H, Li A, Zhong Y, Zhang X iScience. 2025; 28(2):111859.

PMID: 39981514 PMC: 11840523. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.111859.

Efficient Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction to Ammonia with Electrospun Hierarchical Carbon Nanofiber/TiO@CoS Heterostructures.

Chang Z, Jia F, Ji X, Li Q, Cui J, Liao Z Molecules. 2025; 29(24.

PMID: 39770113 PMC: 11677930. DOI: 10.3390/molecules29246025.

Charge Transfer in n-FeO and p-α-FeO Nanoparticles for Efficient Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Humayun A, Manivelan N, Prabakar K Nanomaterials (Basel). 2024; 14(18).

PMID: 39330671 PMC: 11434590. DOI: 10.3390/nano14181515.

2D nanocomposite materials for HER electrocatalysts - a review.

Sobhani Bazghale F, Gilak M, Pedram M, Torabi F, Naikoo G Heliyon. 2024; 10(1):e23450.

PMID: 38192770 PMC: 10772112. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23450.

Electron-Sponge Nature of Polyoxometalates for Next-Generation Electrocatalytic Water Splitting and Nonvolatile Neuromorphic Devices.

Ahmad W, Ahmad N, Wang K, Aftab S, Hou Y, Wan Z Adv Sci (Weinh). 2023; 11(5):e2304120.

PMID: 38030565 PMC: 10837383. DOI: 10.1002/advs.202304120.

References

Greeley J, Jaramillo T, Bonde J, Chorkendorff I, Norskov J . Computational high-throughput screening of electrocatalytic materials for hydrogen evolution. Nat Mater. 2006; 5(11):909-13. DOI: 10.1038/nmat1752. View

Cui W, Liu Q, Cheng N, Asiri A, Sun X . Activated carbon nanotubes: a highly-active metal-free electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. Chem Commun (Camb). 2014; 50(66):9340-2. DOI: 10.1039/c4cc02713b. View

Wang J, Cui W, Liu Q, Xing Z, Asiri A, Sun X . Recent Progress in Cobalt-Based Heterogeneous Catalysts for Electrochemical Water Splitting. Adv Mater. 2015; 28(2):215-30. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201502696. View

Cobo S, Heidkamp J, Jacques P, Fize J, Fourmond V, Guetaz L . A Janus cobalt-based catalytic material for electro-splitting of water. Nat Mater. 2012; 11(9):802-7. DOI: 10.1038/nmat3385. View

Kibsgaard J, Chen Z, Reinecke B, Jaramillo T . Engineering the surface structure of MoS2 to preferentially expose active edge sites for electrocatalysis. Nat Mater. 2012; 11(11):963-9. DOI: 10.1038/nmat3439. View

Tian J, Liu Q, Cheng N, Asiri A, Sun X . Self-supported Cu3P nanowire arrays as an integrated high-performance three-dimensional cathode for generating hydrogen from water. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014; 53(36):9577-81. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201403842. View

Guo S, Zhang S, Sun S . Tuning nanoparticle catalysis for the oxygen reduction reaction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2013; 52(33):8526-44. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201207186. View

Morales-Guio C, Stern L, Hu X . Nanostructured hydrotreating catalysts for electrochemical hydrogen evolution. Chem Soc Rev. 2014; 43(18):6555-69. DOI: 10.1039/c3cs60468c. View

Shalom M, Gimenez S, Schipper F, Herraiz-Cardona I, Bisquert J, Antonietti M . Controlled carbon nitride growth on surfaces for hydrogen evolution electrodes. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014; 53(14):3654-8. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201309415. View

10.

Wei W, Wang Y, Wu H, Al-Enizi A, Zhang L, Zheng G . Transition metal oxide hierarchical nanotubes for energy applications. Nanotechnology. 2015; 27(2):02LT01. DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/27/2/02LT01. View

11.

Chen X, Shen S, Guo L, Mao S . Semiconductor-based photocatalytic hydrogen generation. Chem Rev. 2010; 110(11):6503-70. DOI: 10.1021/cr1001645. View

12.

Chan C, Peng H, Liu G, McIlwrath K, Zhang X, Huggins R . High-performance lithium battery anodes using silicon nanowires. Nat Nanotechnol. 2008; 3(1):31-5. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.411. View

13.

Luo J, Im J, Mayer M, Schreier M, Nazeeruddin M, Park N . Water photolysis at 12.3% efficiency via perovskite photovoltaics and Earth-abundant catalysts. Science. 2014; 345(6204):1593-6. DOI: 10.1126/science.1258307. View

14.

Ding Q, Meng F, English C, Caban-Acevedo M, Shearer M, Liang D . Efficient photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation using heterostructures of Si and chemically exfoliated metallic MoS2. J Am Chem Soc. 2014; 136(24):8504-7. DOI: 10.1021/ja5025673. View

15.

Xu Y, Zhang B . Recent advances in porous Pt-based nanostructures: synthesis and electrochemical applications. Chem Soc Rev. 2014; 43(8):2439-50. DOI: 10.1039/c3cs60351b. View

16.

Chen P, Xu K, Tao S, Zhou T, Tong Y, Ding H . Phase-Transformation Engineering in Cobalt Diselenide Realizing Enhanced Catalytic Activity for Hydrogen Evolution in an Alkaline Medium. Adv Mater. 2016; 28(34):7527-32. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201601663. View

17.

Johnson L, Li C, Liu Z, Chen Y, Freunberger S, Ashok P . The role of LiO2 solubility in O2 reduction in aprotic solvents and its consequences for Li-O2 batteries. Nat Chem. 2014; 6(12):1091-9. DOI: 10.1038/nchem.2101. View

18.

Chen X, Liu L, Yu P, Mao S . Increasing solar absorption for photocatalysis with black hydrogenated titanium dioxide nanocrystals. Science. 2011; 331(6018):746-50. DOI: 10.1126/science.1200448. View

19.

Chen Z, Rathmell A, Ye S, Wilson A, Wiley B . Optically transparent water oxidation catalysts based on copper nanowires. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2013; 52(51):13708-11. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201306585. View

20.

Sakimoto K, Wong A, Yang P . Self-photosensitization of nonphotosynthetic bacteria for solar-to-chemical production. Science. 2016; 351(6268):74-7. DOI: 10.1126/science.aad3317. View