Electrocatalytic seawater splitting for hydrogen production:Recent progress and future prospects

Earth-abundant seawater resource has become an attractive candidate to produce hydrogen from electrolysis,which is of great significance to realize hydrogen economy and carbon neutrality.Nonetheless,developing highly active and stable electrocatalysts to meet the needs of highly effective seawater splitting is still challenging for the sluggish oxygen evolution dynamics and the existed competitive reaction of chlorine evolution reaction(CER).To this end,some newly-developed electrocatalysts with superior performance,such as noble metals,alloy,transition metals,oxides,carbides,nitrides,phosphides,and so on,have been synthesized for the seawater splitting in recent years.This review starts from the historical background and fundamental mechanisms,and summarizes the most recent progress in the development of seawater electrolysis technologies.Some existing issues in the process of seawater electrolysis are enumerated and the corresponded solutions are presented.The future of hydrogen production from seawater electrolysis,especially the design and synthesis of novel catalysts for seawater electrolysis,is prospected.

Application of ionic liquids in CO_(2)capture and electrochemical reduction:A review

As a new type of green solvent with non-volatility,high thermal stability,high conductivity and various adjustable properties,ionic liquid(IL)has been widely used in the capture and electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide(CO_(2)).To date,many studies have been made to investigate CO_(2)capture by using different types of ILs and CO_(2)electrochemical reduction(CO_(2)ER)with ILs as either electrolyte or other catalytic active components.Some structure-activity relationships between the structure and adsorption or catalytic properties of ILs have been found.Herein,the absorption performances and mechanisms of conventional ILs,amino-functionalized ILs,non-amino functionalized ILs and supported ILs for CO_(2)capture,as well as the performances and action mechanisms of ILs as the electrolyte,electrolyte additive,and/or electrode modifier in the process of CO_(2)ER are summarized.Many researches indicate that the unique interaction between the anion or cation of IL and CO_(2)has a significant contribution to promote the absorption and conversion of CO_(2).However,the ILs used for CO_(2)capture and electrochemical reduction should be further explored.Especially,a more in-depth investigation of the adsorption and catalytic mechanisms with the help of quantum chemical calculation,molecular simulation,and in situ characterization techniques is necessary.It is expected to design and develop more efficient ILs used for CO_(2)capture and conversion on a large scale.