Engineering sulfur vacancies for boosting electrocatalytic reactions

Transition metal sulfides are demonstrated to play an increasingly important role in boosting the deployment of ecofriendly electrocatalytic energy conversion technologies.It is also widely recognized that the introduction of vacancies is now becoming an important and valid approach to promote the electrocatalytic performance.In this review,the significance of sulfur vacancies on the enhancement of catalytic performance via four main functionalities,including tuning the electronic structure,tailoring the active sites,improving the electrical conductivity,and regulating surface reconstruction,is comprehensively summarized.Many effective strategies for the sulfur vacancy engineering,such as plasma treatment,heteroatom doping,and chemical reduction are also comprehensively provided.Subsequently,recent achievements in sulfur vacancy fabrication on various hotspot electrocatalytic reactions are also systematically discussed.Finally,a summary of the recent progress and challenges of this interesting field are organized,which hopes to guide the future development of more efficient metal sulfide electrocatalysts.

Identification of Dynamic Active Sites Among Cu Species Derived from MOFs@CuPc for Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction Reaction to Ammonia

Direct electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction(NITRR)is a promising strategy to alleviate the unbalanced nitrogen cycle while achieving the electrosynthesis of ammonia.However,the restructuration of the high-activity Cu-based electrocatalysts in the NITRR process has hindered the identification of dynamical active sites and in-depth investigation of the catalytic mechanism.Herein,Cu species(single-atom,clusters,and nanoparticles)with tunable loading supported on N-doped TiO_(2)/C are successfully manufactured with MOFs@CuPc precursors via the pre-anchor and post-pyrolysis strategy.Restructuration behavior among Cu species is co-dependent on the Cu loading and reaction potential,as evidenced by the advanced operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy,and there exists an incompletely reversible transformation of the restructured structure to the initial state.Notably,restructured CuN_(4)&Cu_(4) deliver the high NH_(3) yield of 88.2 mmol h^(−1)g_(cata)^(−1) and FE(~94.3%)at−0.75 V,resulting from the optimal adsorption of NO_(3)^(−) as well as the rapid conversion of^(*)NH_(2)OH to^(*)NH_(2) intermediates originated from the modulation of charge distribution and d-band center for Cu site.This work not only uncovers CuN_(4)&Cu_(4) have the promising NITRR but also identifies the dynamic Cu species active sites that play a critical role in the efficient electrocatalytic reduction in nitrate to ammonia.

Upcycling plastic wastes into value-added products via electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis

Plastic,renowned for its versatility,durability,and cost-effectiveness,is indispensable in modern society.Nevertheless,the annual production of nearly 400 million tons of plastic,coupled with a recycling rate of only 9%,has led to a monumental environmental crisis.Plastic recycling has emerged as a vital response to this crisis,offering sustainable solutions to mitigate its environmental impact.Among these recycling efforts,plastic upcycling has garnered attention,which elevates discarded plastics into higher-value products.Here,electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic treatments stand at the forefront of advanced plastic upcycling.Electrocatalytic or photoelectrocatalytic treatments involve chemical reactions that facilitate electron transfer through the electrode/electrolyte interface,driven by electrical or solar energy,respectively.These methods enable precise control of chemical reactions,harnessing potential,current density,or light to yield valuable chemical products.This review explores recent progress in plastic upcycling through electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic pathways,offering promising solutions to the plastic waste crisis and advancing sustainability in the plastics industry.

Composition Engineering Opens an Avenue Toward Efficient and Sustainable Nitrogen Fixation

In this work,we open an avenue toward rational design of potential efficient catalysts for sustainable ammonia synthesis through composition engineering strategy by exploiting the synergistic effects among the active sites as exemplified by diatomic metals anchored graphdiyne via the combination of hierarchical high-throughput screening,first-principles calculations,and molecular dynamics simulations.Totally 43 highly efficient catalysts feature ultralow onset potentials(|U_(onset)|≤0.40 V)with Rh-Hf and Rh-Ta showing negligible onset potentials of 0 and-0.04 V,respectively.Extremely high catalytic activities of Rh-Hf and Rh-Ta can be ascribed to the synergistic effects.When forming heteronuclears,the combinations of relatively weak(such as Rh)and relatively strong(such as Hf or Ta)components usually lead to the optimal strengths of adsorption Gibbs free energies of reaction intermediates.The origin can be ascribed to the mediate d-band centers of Rh-Hf and Rh-Ta,which lead to the optimal adsorption strengths of intermediates,thereby bringing the high catalytic activities.Our work provides a new and general strategy toward the architecture of highly efficient catalysts not only for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction(eNRR)but also for other important reactions.We expect that our work will boost both experimental and theoretical efforts in this direction.

Nitrogen-doping boosts ^(*)CO utilization and H_(2)O activation on copper for improving CO_(2) reduction to C_(2+) products

To improve the electrocatalytic transformation of carbon dioxide (CO_(2)) to multi-carbon (C_(2+)) products is of great importance.Here we developed a nitrogen-doped Cu catalyst,by which the maximum C_(2+) Faradaic efficiency can reach 72.7%in flow-cell system,with the partial current density reaching 0.62 A cm^(-2).The in situ Raman spectra demonstrate that the *CO adsorption can be strengthened on such a N-doped Cu catalyst,thus promoting the *CO utilization in the subsequent C–C coupling step.Simultaneously,the water activation can be well enhanced by N doping on Cu catalyst.Owing to the synergistic effects,the selectivity and activity for C_(2+) products over the N-deoped Cu catalyst are much improved.

Strategies on improving the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performances of metal phosphides

Among the sustainable energy sources,hydrogen is the one most promising for alleviating the pollution issues related to the usage of conventional fuels,as it can be produced in an efficient and eco-friendly way via electrocatalytic water splitting.The hydrogen evolution reaction(HER,a half-reaction of water splitting)plays a pivotal role in decreasing the price and increasing the catalytic efficiency of hydrogen production and is efficiently promoted by metal phosphides in different electrolytes.Herein,we summarize the recent advances in the development of metal phosphides as HER electrocatalysts,focus on their synthesis(post-treatment,in situ generation,and electrodeposition methods)and the enhancement of their electrocatalytic activity(via elemental doping,interface and vacancy engineering,construction of specific supports and nanostructures,and the design of bior polymetallic phosphides),and highlight the crucial issues and challenges of future development.

Electrocatalytic volcano relations:surface occupation effects and rational kinetic models

Electrocatalysis plays a vital role in technologies of energy and environment relevance,such as water electrolysis,fuel cells,synthesis of carbon and nitrogen-based fuels,etc.The volcano relations(VRs)are general and standard tools for predicting and understanding the activity trends of electrocatalysts.The modern electrocatalytic VRs are generally based on the kinetic models with the maximum free energy(△G^(0)_(max))of reaction steps as the rate-determining term(RDT),in which some important factors that crucially impact the reaction kinetics are missed,for examples,the surface structures and coverages of reaction intermediates and spectators,other free energy demanding steps than that associated with the △G^(0)_(max),and so on.In this perspective,we first give a brief introduction of the theoretical framework of current electrocatalytic VRs and the underlying problems in the oversimplifiedDG0max-based kinetic models,and then provide an account of our effort in constructing more rational VRs for electrocatalytic reactions.We introduce a new theoretical framework of electrocatalytic VRs based on kinetic model with the so-called energetic span(δE)serving as RDT.Since the surface-coverage effects and multiple free energy-demanding steps are considered,the VRs thus obtained show several new features such as strong potential dependence,asymmetric ascending and descending branches,relatively flat tops,and so on.The effectiveness of theδE-based VRs is verified for hydrogen and oxygen electrocatalytic reactions.Finally,research directions to further rationalize the electrocatalytic VRs are discussed.

Mechanistic insights into homogeneous electrocatalytic reaction for energy storage using finite element simulation

The application of homogeneous electrocatalytic reactions in energy storage and conversion has driven surging interests of researchers in exploring the reaction mechanisms of molecular catalysts.In this paper,homogeneous electrocatalytic reaction between hydroxymethylferrocene(HMF)and L-cysteine is intensively investigated by cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry for which,the secondorder rate constant(k_(ec))of the chemical reaction between HMF^(+)and L-cysteine is determined via a 1D homogeneous electrocatalytic reaction model based on finite element simulation.The corresponding k_(ec)(1.1(mol·m^(-3))^(-1)·s^(-1))is further verified by linear sweep voltammograms under the same model.Square wave voltammetry parameters including potential frequency(f),increment(Estep)and amplitude(ESW)have been comprehensively investigated in terms of the voltammetric waveform transition of homogeneous electrocatalytic reaction.Specifically,the effect of potential frequency and increment is in accordance with the potential scan rate in cyclic voltammetry and the increase of pulsed potential amplitude results in a conspicuous split oxidative peaks phenomenon.Moreover,the proposed methodology of k_(ec)prediction is examined by hydroxyethylferrocene(HEF)and L-cysteine.The present work facilitates the understanding of homogeneous electrocatalytic reaction for energy storage purpose,especially in terms of electrochemical kinetics extraction and flow battery design.

THE ELECTROCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF NiCo2O4 FOR THE OXYGEN EVOLUTION REACTION

A spinel oxide NiCo204 prepared by thermal decomposition is of very high activity for the oxygen evolution reaction(OER)in alkaline solution.The oxygen evolution overpotential on NiCo204 is 0.252-0.262V in 10 M NaOH solution at 343K and current density 100 mAcm^(-2).

Crystal facet engineering coexposed CuIn(200)and In(101)in CuIn alloy nanocatalysts enabling selective and stable CO_(2)electroreduction

The electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction reaction(eCO_(2)RR)into high-value-added chemicals and fuels is a promising strategy to mitigate global warming.However,it remains a significant stumbling block to the rationally tuning lattice plane of the catalyst with high activity to produce the target product in the eCO_(2)RR process.To attempt to solve this problem,the Culn bimetallic alloy nanocatalyst with specifically exposed lattice planes is modulated and electrodeposited on the nitrogen-doped porous carbon cloth by a simple two-step electrodeposition method,which induces high Faraday efficiency of 80%towards HCOO-(FEHCOO-)with a partial current density of 13.84 mA cm-2at-1.05 V(vs.RHE).Systematic characterizations and theoretical modeling reveal that the specific coexposed Culn(200)and In(101)lattice facets selectively adsorbed the key intermediate of OCHO*,reducing the overpotential of HCOOH and boosting the FEHCOO-in a wide potential window(-0.65--1.25 V).Moreover,a homogeneous distribution of Culn nanoparticles with an average diameter of merely~3.19 nm affords exposure to abundant active sites,meanwhile prohibiting detachment and agglomeration of nanoparticles during eCO_(2)RR for enhanced stability attributing to the self-assembly electrode strategy.This study highlights the synergistic effect between catalytic activity and facet effect,which opens a new route in surface engineering to tune their electrocatalytic performance.

Copper oxide foam with high specific surface area for electrocatalytic reduction of CO_(2)to C_(2+)products

The carbon dioxide reduction reaction(CO_(2)RR)for the synthesis of high-energy-density and high-value multi-carbon(C_(2+))products has demonstrated consider-able potential for practical applications.In this work,we design a novel copper oxide foam(OD-Cu foam)catalyst through a high-temperature calcination pro-cess,characterized by a substantial specific surface area.The distinctive three-dimensional structure of the OD-Cu foam catalyst and the metal oxide particles covered on its surface provide abundant active sites.The total Faradaic efficiency of 57.3%for C_(2+)products over the OD-Cu foam is achieved at-0.85 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode(RHE).Furthermore,the partial current density for C_(2+)products over the OD-Cu foam reaches 44.1 mA cm^(-2)at-0.95 V versus RHE,surpassing significantly that both of Cu foam(3.4 mA cm^(-2))and copper oxide foil(OD-Cu foil)(1.6 mA cm^(-2)).In addition,the integrated structure of the OD-Cu foam,which does not require complex preparation processes,facilitates its application in CO_(2)RR.These results underscore the significance of three-dimensional structure and high specific surface area,emphasizing the consider-able potential of this catalyst for effective and sustainable CO_(2)conversion.

Electrochemical synthesis of catalytic materials for energy catalysis

Electrocatalysis is a process dealing with electrochemical reactions in the interconversion of chemical energy and electrical energy.Precise synthesis of catalytically active nanostructures is one of the key challenges that hinder the practical application of many important energy‐related electrocatalytic reactions.Compared with conventional wet‐chemical,solid‐state and vapor deposition synthesis,electrochemical synthesis is a simple,fast,cost‐effective and precisely controllable method for the preparation of highly efficient catalytic materials.In this review,we summarize recent progress in the electrochemical synthesis of catalytic materials such as single atoms,spherical and shaped nanoparticles,nanosheets,nanowires,core‐shell nanostructures,layered nanomaterials,dendritic nanostructures,hierarchically porous nanostructures as well as composite nanostructures.Fundamental aspects of electrochemical synthesis and several main electrochemical synthesis methods are discussed.Structure‐performance correlations between electrochemically synthesized catalysts and their unique electrocatalytic properties are exemplified using selected examples.We offer the reader with a basic guide to the synthesis of highly efficient catalysts using electrochemical methods,and we propose some research challenges and future opportunities in this field.

Atom-level interfacial synergy of single-atom site catalysts for electrocatalysis

Single-atom site catalysts(SACs)have made great achievements due to their nearly 100%atomic utilization and uniform active sites.Regulating the surrounding environment of active sites,including electron structure and coordination environment via atom-level interface regulation,to design and construct an advanced SACs is of great significance for boosting electrocatalytic reactions.In this review,we systemically summarized the fundamental understandings and intrinsic mechanisms of SACs for electrocatalytic applications based on the interface site regulations.We elaborated the several different regulation strategies of SACs to demonstrate their ascendancy in electrocatalytic applications.Firstly,the interfacial electronic interaction was presented to reveal the electron transfer behavior of active sites.Secondly,the different coordination structures of metal active center coordinated with two or three non-metal elements were also summarized.In addition,other atom-level interfaces of SACs,including metal atom–atom interface,metal atom-X-atom interface(X:non-metal element),metal atom-particle interface,were highlighted and the corresponding promoting effect towards electrocatalysis was disclosed.Finally,we outlooked the limitations,perspectives and challenges of SACs based on atomic interface regulation.

Insights into electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction mechanisms:Combined effect of single transition-metal and boron atom

Developing single-atom catalysts(SACs) for electrochemical devices is a frontier in energy conversion.The comparison of stability,activity and selectivity between various single atoms is one of the main research focuses in SACs.However,the in-depth understanding of the role that the coordination atoms of single atom play in the catalytic process is lacking.Herein,we proposed a graphene-like boroncarbon-nitride(BCN) monolayer as the support of single metal atom.The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction(eNRR) performances of 3 d,4 d transition metal(TM) atoms embedded in defective BCN were systematically investigated by means of density functional theory(DFT) computations.Our study shows that the TM-to-N and B-to-N π-back bonding can contribute to the activation of N_(2).Importantly,a combined effect is revealed between single TM atom and boron atom on eNRR:TM atom enhances the nitrogen reduction process especially in facilitating the N_(2) adsorption and the NH3 desorption,while boron atom modulates the bonding strength of key intermediates by balancing the charged species.Furthermore,Nb@BN3 possesses the highest electrocata lytic activity with limiting potential of-0.49 V,and exhibits a high selectivity for nitrogen reduction reaction(NRR) to ammonia compared with hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).As such,this work can stimulate a research doorway for designing multi-active sites of the anchored single atoms and the innate atoms of substrate based on the mechanistic insights to guide future eNRR research.

Multicomponent transition metal phosphide for oxygen evolution

Transition metal phosphides(TMPs)have exhibited decent performance in an oxygen evolution reaction(OER),which is a kinetic bottleneck in many energy storages and conversion systems.Most reported catalysts are composed of three or fewer metallic components.The inherent complexity of multicomponent TMPs with more than four metallic components hinders their investigation in rationally designing the structure and,more importantly,comprehending the component-activity correlation.Through hydrothermal growth and subsequent phosphor-ization,we reported a facile strategy for combining TMPs with tunable elemental compositions(Ni,Fe,Mn,Co,Cu)on a two-dimensional ti-tanium carbide(MXene)flake.The obtained TMPs/MXene hybrid nanostructures demonstrate homogeneously distributed elements.They ex-hibit high electrical conductivity and strong interfacial interaction,resulting in an accelerated reaction kinetics and long-term stability.The res-ults of different component catalysts’OER performance show that NiFeMnCoP/MXene is the most active catalyst,with a low overpotential of 240 mV at 10 mA·cm−2,a small Tafel slope of 41.43 mV·dec−1,and a robust long-term electrochemical stability.According to the electrocata-lytic mechanism investigation,the enhanced NiFeMnCoP/MXene OER performance is due to the strong synergistic effect of the multi-ele-mental composition.Our work,therefore,provides a scalable synthesis route for multi-elemental TMPs and a valuable guideline for efficient MXene-supported catalysts design.

Dual-site collaboration boosts electrochemical nitrogen reduction on Ru-S-C single-atom catalyst

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrogen into ammonia(NH_(3))is a highly attractive but challenging route for NH_(3)production.We propose to realize a synergetic work of multi reaction sites to overcome the limitation of sustainable NH_(3)production.Herein,using ruthenium-sulfur-carbon(Ru-S-C)catalyst as a prototype,we show that the Ru/S dual-site cooperates to catalyse eletrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction(eNRR)at ambient conditions.With the combination of theoretical calculations,in situ Raman spectroscopy,and experimental observation,we demonstrate that such Ru/S dual-site cooperation greatly facilitates the activation and first protonation of N_(2)in the rate-determining step of eNRR.As a result,Ru-S-C catalyst exhibits significantly enhanced eNRR performance compared with the routine Ru-N-C catalyst via a single-site catalytic mechanism.We anticipate that our specifically designed dual-site collaborative catalytic mechanism will open up a new way to offers new opportunities for advancing sustainable NH_(3)production.

Self-assembled Nanohybrid from Opposite Charged Sheets:Alternate Stacking of CoAl LDH and MoS2

Hybrid materials are attracting intensive attention for their applications in electronics, photoelectronics, LEDs, field-effect transistors, etc. Engineering new hybrid materials and further exploiting their new functions will be significant for future science and technique development. In this work, alternatively stacked self-assembled CoAl LDH/MoS2 nanohybrid has been successfully synthesized by an exfoliation-flocculation method from positively charged CoAl LDH nanosheets（CoAl-NS） with negatively charged MoS2 nanosheets（MoS2-NS）. The CoAl LDH/MoS2 hybrid material exhibits an enhanced catalytic performance for oxygen evolution reaction（OER） compared with original constituents of CoAl LDH nanosheets and MoS2 nanosheets. The enhanced OER catalytic performance of CoAl LDH/MoS2 is demonstrated to be due to the improved electron transfer, more exposed catalytic active sites, and accelerated oxygen evolution reaction kinetics.

Perspectives on electrochemical nitrogen fixation catalyzed by two-dimensional MXenes

Ammonia is the most basic raw material in industrial and agricultural production.The current industrial production of ammonia relies on the Haber-Bosch process with high energy consumption.To overcome this shortcoming,the development of electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis under moderate conditions is considered as a potential alternative technology.The two-dimensional(2D)MXenes family has been proved promising as electrocatalysts,but from the currently available literature,it is hard to find a systematic review on MXenes-catalyzed ammonia synthesis.So in the present review,we summarize the key perspectives on that topic in recent years as well as outline,from a prospective view,strategies of catalyst design.We analyze in detail the methods for preparing high performance MXenes-based catalysts and the corresponding underlying mechanisms,and also discuss the criteria and potential challenges,expecting to provide inspiration for the development of efficient MXenes-based route to electrochemical ammonia fixation.

The“mediated molecular”-assisted construction of Mo_(2)N islands dispersed on Co-based nanosheets for high-efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction

The rational design of the catalysts with easily-accessible surface and high intrinsic activity is desirable for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).Here,we reported the construction of two-dimensional(2D)Co-Mo nitrides based heterojunctional catalyst for efficient HER based on a“mediated molecular”assisted route.The 2D Co(OH)_(2)sheet reacted partially with the“mediated molecular”(2-methylimidazole(2-MIM))to form zeolitic imidazolate framework(ZIF)-67 at surface,giving ZIF-67/Co(OH)_(2)sheets.The ZIF-67 combines with[PMo_(12)O_(40)]^(3−)cluster(PMo_(12))due to the interaction of mediated molecular with PMo_(12),producing 2D Mo-Co-2MIM/Co(OH)_(2)bimetallic precursor.After controlled nitriding,the Mo_(2)N islands dispersed on 2D porous Co-based sheets were formed.A series of characterizations and density functional theory(DFT)calculation indicated the formation of a close contact interface,which promotes the electron transfer between Mo and Co components,enhances the electron migration/redistribution and redistribution and down-shift of d-band center and thus gives a high intrinsic activity.The 2D characteristics make the catalyst more accessible contact sites,which is favourable to promot the HER.The tests showed that the optimized catalyst exhibits an onset potential of 0 mV and an overpotential of 10 mA·cm^(−2)at 35.0 mV,which is quite close to that of Pt/C catalyst.It also exhibits an activity superior to Pt/C at high current density(>100 mA·cm^(−2)).A good stability of the catalyst was achieved with no significant decay for 100 h of continuous operation.The electrolytic cell composed of optimized catalyst and P-NiFe-layered double hydroxide(LDH)can be driven by low voltage(only 1.47 V)to reach a current density of 10 mA·cm^(−2).

Advanced MOF-based electrode materials for supercapacitors and electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

Metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)have attracted a lot of attention due to their diverse structures,favorable porous properties,and tunable chemical compositions in the multiple fields.Notably,MOF-based materials(including pristine MOFs,MOF composites,and their derivatives)play the vital role in electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems,due to their ability for regulating chemical composition at the molecular level and their highly porous frameworks for facilitating the mass and charge transfer.Supercapacitors and fuel cells are used as one of energy storage and conversion systems respectively,and it is unstoppable to design and synthesize high-efficiency electrode materials for them.This review starts with the strategies for designing targeted MOF-based materials in electrochemical energy storage and conversion applications followed by the state-ofthe-art MOF-based materials discussed as to their potential applications in supercapacitors and electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction(ORR).Finally,the challenges and perspectives of MOF-based materials applied for supercapacitors and electrocatalytic ORR are discussed.