Recent advances in metal-based Janus nanomaterials: synthesis and electrocatalytic applications

Abstract

Metal-based heterostructures have attracted increasing research interest due to their intriguing properties and promising applications, especially in catalysis. Regulating the spatial configuration of distinct components in metal-based heterostructures has been considered a promising route to modulate their properties, functions, and performances. In particular, metal-based Janus heterostructures with their components exhibiting unique asymmetric configurations have shown some novel merits and properties that are unattainable in other traditional symmetric architectures. This review highlights the most recent progress in metal-based nanomaterials with Janus architectures, focusing on their synthesis strategies and electrocatalytic applications. First, their typical synthetic approaches, including co-reduction synthesis, seed-mediated growth, post-synthetic treatment, and other methods, are systematically summarized. Then, the applications of metal-based Janus nanomaterials in a range of electrocatalytic reactions, including hydrogen electrocatalysis, oxygen electrocatalysis, small-molecule oxidation, nitrate reduction, and carbon dioxide reduction, are presented by highlighting their structure–performance relationship. Finally, current challenges and future directions in this exciting field are discussed.