Self-supported electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Electrocatalytic water splitting is a promising technology for producing clean hydrogen fuel. The development of cost-effective, highly efficient, and excellent durable electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) plays an important role in industrial electrolytic water splitting. Using self-supported electrodes is regarded as an impactful strategy for designing electrocatalysts with exceptional activity and high stability, compared with conventional powder electrocatalysts. Herein, recent progress in different substrates including nickel foam (NF), carbon cloth (CC), titanium foil (TF), stainless steel (SS), iron foam (IF), cobalt foam (CF), copper foam (CFM), molybdenum foil (MF), and so on for self-supported electrocatalysts is systematically overviewed, with a special focus on the vacancy engineering, morphological control, heterostructure construction, alloying design, and doping regulation, as well as the design and fabrication route. This review may promote future research and provide a guideline for selecting suitable materials and substrates for fabricating self-supported electrodes with outstanding HER performances, thereby further enhancing the large-scale application of electrolyzing water.