Perspective of hydrogen energy and recent progress in electrocatalytic water splitting

As a secondary energy with great commercialization potential,hydrogen energy has been widely studied due to the high calorific value,clean combustion products and various reduction methods.At present,the blueprint of hydrogen energy economy in the world is gradually taking shape.Compared with the traditional high-energy consuming methane steam reforming hydrogen production method,the electrocatalytic water splitting hydrogen production stands out among other process of hydrogen production owning to the mild reaction conditions,high-purity hydrogen generation and sustainable production process.Basing on current technical economy situation,the highly electric power cost limits the further promotion of electrocatalytic water splitting hydrogen production process.Consequently,the rational design and development of low overpotential and high stability electrocatalytic water splitting catalysts are critical toward the realization of low-cost hydrogen production technology.In this review,we summarize the existing hydrogen production methods,elaborate the reaction mechanism of the electrocatalytic water splitting reaction under acidic and alkaline conditions and the recent progress of the respective catalysts for the two half-reactions.The structure-activity relationship of the catalyst was deep-going discussed,together with the prospects of electrocatalytic water splitting and the current challenges,aiming at provide insights for electrocatalytic water splitting catalyst development and its industrial applications.

Ce-and La-doped polymetallic layered double hydroxides for enhanced oxygen evolution reaction performance at high current density

Polymetallic layered double hydroxides are promising cost-effective catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction(OER) due to their versatile anionic and cationic tunability. Nevertheless, several challenges persist, notably, issues related to low electrical conductivity, poor catalytic activity, and stability, especially at high current density. Herein, we report the design of Ce-and Ladoped Co Ni Fe-layered double hydroxide(Ce La Co Ni Fe-LDH) nanosheets through a facile and scalable in situ self-assembly strategy that displays enhanced OER activity. Experimental and theoretical investigations provide insights into the impact of Ceand La-doping by comparing Ce Co Ni Fe-LDH, La Co Ni Fe-LDH, and pristine Co Ni Fe-LDH, all synthesized using the same methodology. These results reveal that doping Ce^(3+)and La^(3+)into Co Ni Fe-LDH substantially improves its electronic structure,resulting in enhanced conductivity, more oxygen vacancies(Vo), electron interaction, and active site formation. Consequently,significantly reduced overpotentials of 175, 314, and 424 m V at 10, 100, and 500 m A cm^(-2), respectively, and a highly stable current density of 120 h in 1 M KOH were achieved. Notably, these performance metrics surpass those of unmodified LDHs and are competitive with many lanthanide-doped transition metal-based LDH electrocatalysts, as well as noble metal catalysts like ruthenium catalysts. This work represents a pioneering effort in doping Ce^(3+)and La^(3+)ions into a functional Co Ni Fe-based electrocatalyst, offering inspiring OER performance and scalability potential.

Mesoporous silica stabilized MOF nanoreactor for highly selective semi-hydrogenation of phenylacetylene via synergistic effect of Pd and Ru single site

Selective semi-hydrogenation of phenylacetylene to styrene is a crucial step in the polystyrene industry.Although Pd-based catalysts are widely used in this reaction due to their excellent hydrogenation activity,the selectivity for styrene remains a great challenge.Herein,we designed a mesoporous silica stabilized Pd-Ru@ZIF-8(MS Pd-Ru@ZIF-8)nanoreactor with novel Pd and Ru single site synergistic catalytical system for semi-hydrogenation of phenylacetylene.The nanoreactor exhibited a superior performance,achieving 98%conversion of phenylacetylene and 96%selectivity to styrene.Turnover frequency(TOF)of nanoreactor was up to as high as 2,188 h^(−1),which was 25 times and 5 times more than the single metal species catalysts,mesoporous silica stabilized Pd@ZIF-8 nanoreactor(MS Pd@ZIF-8),and mesoporous silica stabilized Ru@ZIF-8 nanoreactor(MS Ru@ZIF-8).This catalytic activity was attributed to the synergistic effect of Pd and Ru single site anchored strongly into the framework of ZIF-8,which reduced the desorption energy of styrene and increased the hydrogenation energy barrier of styrene.Importantly,since the ordered mesoporous silica was introduced into the nanoreactor shell to stabilize ZIF-8,MS Pd-Ru@ZIF-8 showed excellent reusability and stability.After the five cycles,the catalytical activity and selectivity still remained.This work provides insights for a synergistic catalytic system based on single-site active sites for selective hydrogenation reactions.

Plasmonic coupling-enhanced in situ photothermal nanoreactor with shape selective catalysis for C–C coupling reaction

Carbon-carbon(C–C)coupling reactions represent one of the most powerful tools for the synthesis of complex natural products,bioactive molecules developed as drugs and agrochemicals.In this work,a multifunctional nanoreactor for C–C coupling reaction was successfully fabricated via encapsulating the core-shell Cu@Ni nanocubes into ZIF-8(Cu@Ni@ZIF-8).In this nanoreactor,Ni shell of the core-shell Cu@Ni nanocubes was the catalytical active center,and Cu core was in situ heating source for the catalyst by absorbing the visible light.Moreover,benefiting from the plasmonic resonance effect between Cu@Ni nanocubes encapsulated in ZIF-8,the absorption range of nanoreactor was widened and the utilization rate of visible light was enhanced.Most importantly,the microporous structure of ZIF-8 provided shape-selective of reactant.This composite was used for the highly shape-selective and stable photocatalysed C–C coupling reaction of boric acid under visible light irradiation.After five cycles,the nanoreactor still remained high catalytical activity.This Cu@Ni@ZIF-8 nanoreactor opens a way for photocatalytic C–C coupling reactions with shape-selectivity.