Advanced Materials and Catalysis Group, Center for Chemistry of High-performance and Novel Materials, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310028, P. R. China.
Adv Mater. 2017 Apr;29(14). doi: 10.1002/adma.201605838. Epub 2017 Feb 24.
Hydrogen has been hailed as a clean and sustainable alternative to finite fossil fuels in many energy systems. Water splitting is an important method for hydrogen production in high purity and large quantities. To accelerate the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) rate, it is highly necessary to develop high efficiency catalysts and to select a proper electrolyte. Herein, the performances of non-noble metal-based carbon composites under various pH values (acid, alkaline and neutral media) for HER in terms of catalyst synthesis, structure and molecular design are systematically discussed. A detailed analysis of the structure-activity-pH correlations in the HER process gives an insight on the origin of the pH-dependence for HER, and provide guidance for future HER mechanism studies on non-noble metal-based carbon composites. Furthermore, this Review gives a fresh impetus to rational design of high-performance noble-metal-free composites catalysts and guide researchers to employ the established electrocatalysts in proper water electrolysis technologies.
氢气在许多能源系统中被吹捧为有限化石燃料的清洁和可持续替代品。水分解是高纯度和大量生产氢气的重要方法。为了加速析氢反应 (HER) 速率，非常有必要开发高效催化剂并选择合适的电解质。在此，从催化剂合成、结构和分子设计等方面，系统地讨论了各种 pH 值（酸性、碱性和中性介质）下非贵金属基碳复合材料在 HER 中的性能。详细分析 HER 过程中的结构-活性-pH 相关性，深入了解了 HER 的 pH 依赖性的起源，并为非贵金属基碳复合材料的 HER 机制研究提供了指导。此外，本综述为合理设计高性能无贵金属复合材料催化剂提供了新的动力，并指导研究人员在适当的水电解技术中使用已建立的电催化剂。
