Issue 1, 2023

Vacancy defect tuning of electronic structures of transition metal (hydr)oxide-based electrocatalysts for enhanced oxygen evolution

Abstract

Electrocatalytic water splitting has already been regarded as a promising approach to generate pure hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). However, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) occurring at the anode during water splitting is very sluggish, because it involves four-electron oxidation steps. Therefore, developing highly efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts to accelerate its reaction rate and lower its reaction barrier is of great significance, but still remains a big challenge. Strikingly, transition metal (hydr)oxide-based electrocatalysts have attracted wide research interest owing to their high intrinsic activity and low-cost feature. Unfortunately, these transition metal (hydr)oxide-based electrocatalysts always suffer from relatively low conductivity. To address this problem, some efficient strategies have been reported to enhance their conductivity by tuning the electronic structures, further boosting their performances. In this review, three state-of-the-art defect-tuning strategies, including oxygen vacancy defects, metal cation vacancy defects and multivacancy defects, for boosting the OER performances of transition metal (hydr)oxide-based electrocatalysts are summarized. It is found that defects can rationally regulate the electronic structures of transition metal (hydr)oxide-based electrocatalysts, improve the conductivity, optimize the adsorption ability with intermediates and lower the reaction energy barrier of the OER, consequently enhancing their electrocatalytic performances. These defect-tuning strategies open a new avenue for boosting the electrocatalytic performances of low-cost transition metal (hydr)oxide-based nanomaterials, making them promising candidates for replacinge noble metal catalysts for large-scale electrochemical water splitting.

Graphical abstract: Vacancy defect tuning of electronic structures of transition metal (hydr)oxide-based electrocatalysts for enhanced oxygen evolution

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
15 10 2022
Accepted
08 12 2022
First published
09 12 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Energy Adv., 2023,2, 73-85

Vacancy defect tuning of electronic structures of transition metal (hydr)oxide-based electrocatalysts for enhanced oxygen evolution

C. Yuan, S. Huang, H. Zhao, J. Li, L. Zhang, Y. Weng, T. Cheang, H. Yin, X. Zhang and S. Ye, Energy Adv., 2023, 2, 73 DOI: 10.1039/D2YA00281G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements