AUTHOR=Maduraiveeran Govindhan 

TITLE=Transition metal nanomaterial-based electrocatalysts for water and CO2 electrolysis: preparation, catalytic activity, and prospects

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Energy Research

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2024.1433103

DOI=10.3389/fenrg.2024.1433103

ISSN=2296-598X

ABSTRACT=The production of hydrogen (H2) and multi-carbon fuels through water electrolysis (oxygen evolution reaction (OER)/hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)) and water-CO2 co-electrolysis (OER/CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR)), respectively, is supposed to be the emergent energy carrier. These electrochemical processes are essential chemical conversion pathways that initiate the changes toward renewable energy. This review summarizes the systematic design of earth-abundant transition metal-based nanomaterials, and their electrocatalytic activities towards electrochemical energy conversion reactions such as OER, HER, and CO2RR. The primary focus is on fabricating highly effective, low-cost, and advanced transition metal-based nanostructures for both OER/HER and OER/CO2RR systems. The developing synthetic strategies for surface morphology-controlled nanostructured electrocatalysts, engineering the electrode surface, enhancing electrocatalytic activity, understanding the relationship between intrinsic catalytic activity and preparation approaches or precursor choices, and exploring the reaction mechanism are concentrated. Furthermore, the current challenges, figure-of-merit, and prospects of transition metal-based nanomaterials and their electrocatalytic activities towards water electrolysis and water-CO2 co-electrolysis are described. The present study may open new opportunities to develop shape-controlled and high-performance electrocatalysts for electrochemical energy conversion and storage reactions.