Nanoscale Perovskites as Catalysts and Supports for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

With the ultimate goal of simultaneously finding cost-effective, more earth-abundant, and high-performance alternatives to commercial Pt/Pd-based catalysts for electrocatalysis, this review article highlights advances in the use of perovskite metal oxides as both catalysts and catalyst supports towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) within a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) configuration. Specifically, perovskite metal oxides are promising as versatile functional replacements for conventional platinum-group metals, in part because of their excellent ionic conductivity, overall resistance to corrosion, good proton-transport properties, and potential for interesting acidic surface chemistry, all of which contribute to their high activity and reasonable stability, especially within an alkaline electrolytic environment.     

微生物燃料电池非生物阴极催化剂的研究进展

在微生物燃料电池（MFC）中,以氧为电子受体具有很多优点,但氧阴极还原的反应动力学慢,会造成阴极电势的损失。 因此,提高阴极对氧还原的电催化活性和降低催化剂的价格是MFC非生物阴极催化剂的研究重点之一。 本文综述了近年来MFC中非生物阴极氧还原催化剂的研究进展。 重点讨论了贵金属Pt、过渡金属大环化合物以及金属氧化物催化剂对氧还原的电催化活性。 其中,非贵金属氧化物及过渡金属大环化合物催化剂具有良好的性能,而且价格低廉,有望成为MFC非生物阴极Pt基催化剂的替代催化剂。     

Regulating Spin States in Oxygen Electrocatalysis

Developing efficient and stable transition metal oxides catalysts for energy conversion processes such as oxygen evolution reaction and oxygen reduction reaction is one of the key measures to solve the problem of energy shortage. The spin state of transition metal oxides is strongly correlated with their catalytic activities. In an octahedral structure of transition metal oxides, the spin state of active centers could be regulated by adjusting the splitting energy and the electron pairing energy. Regulating spin state of active centers could directly modulate the d orbitals occupancy, which influence the strength of metal-ligand bonds and the adsorption behavior of the intermediates. In this review, we clarified the significance of regulating spin state of the active centers. Subsequently, we discussed several characterization technologies for spin state and some recent strategies to regulate the spin state of the active centers. Finally, we put forward some views on the future research direction of this vital field.     

Influence of the nature of the conduction band of transition metal oxides on catalytic activity for oxygen reduction

Catalytic activities for oxygen reduction of some transition metal oxides with metallic conductivity such as LaTiO₃, SrFeO₃, SrVO₃, SrRuO₃, V_0.2Ti_1.8O₃ and La_1-xSr_xMnO₃ were investigated, and they as well as the activities of other oxides reported already were compared with the nature of their conduction bands. It was found that the catalytic activity of oxides having a σ^* conduction band was high. The conclusion is drawn that in order for a transition metal oxide to have a high catalytic activity, (1) it must have a σ^* band and (2) the band must contain electrons. This conclusion will be useful to predict the catalytic activity for oxygen reduction of transition metal oxides.     

Stabilization of electrocatalytic metal nanoparticles at metal-metal oxide-graphene triple junction points

Carbon-supported precious metal catalysts are widely used in heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis, and enhancement of catalyst dispersion and stability by controlling the interfacial structure is highly desired. Here we report a new method to deposit metal oxides and metal nanoparticles on graphene and form stable metal-metal oxide-graphene triple junctions for electrocatalysis applications. We first synthesize indium tin oxide (ITO) nanocrystals directly on functionalized graphene sheets, forming an ITO-graphene hybrid. Platinum nanoparticles are then deposited, forming a unique triple-junction structure (Pt-ITO-graphene). Our experimental work and periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the supported Pt nanoparticles are more stable at the Pt-ITO-graphene triple junctions. Furthermore, DFT calculations suggest that the defects and functional groups on graphene also play an important role in stabilizing the catalysts. These new catalyst materials were tested for oxygen reduction for potential applications in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, and they exhibited greatly enhanced stability and activity.     

氧在球磨石墨载过渡金属氧化物催化剂上还原动力学研究

本文研究了过渡金属氧化物Co3O4、NiCo2O4和MnO2与振动活性石墨复合后对氧阴极还原的催化作用。旋转盘-环电极的数据表明, 氧在该复合催化剂上的还原反应是一个包括异相催化分解的循环过程, 即氧主要在活性石墨上还原生成中间产物HO2^-, HO2^-又能在氧化物上催化分解, 产生的氧气重新在活性石墨上还原, 这样循环的最终结果生成了OH^-。氧化物分解HO2^-的速率越快, 则氧还原的总电子数越接近于4。     

Enhanced stability and activity of Pt-Y alloy catalysts for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

We report Pt-based alloys with early transition metals. Significant electrocatalysis occurs during oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the Pt-Y alloy electrodes, and the extent depends on the alloy composition. The Pt-Y alloy electrode activity is related to the d-band center position, and the lattice strain and stability for oxygen reduction reaction.     

Functional Electrospun Nanocomposites for Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Electrospinning with a simple and controllable process has extremely received considerable concerns by virtue of the fabrication and development of nanofibers. Moreover, nanofibers are playing an increasing impact on energy conversion and storage devices, especially for fuel cells based on oxygen reduction reaction(ORR), in view of the rich porosity, large surface area, excellent mass transportation and simply tunable composition, as well as good mechanical strength. In this review, we mainly introduce the primary principle of electrospinning technique, electrochemical reaction mechanism of ORR and synthetic strategies, and summarize the recent advances of unique non-noble-metal nanofibers on the basis of metal-organic framework(MOF) derivatives, single-atom catalysts(SACs) and transition metal oxides. More importantly, we emphasize on the influences of the components, morphology and architecture of advanced electrospun catalysts on their correspon-ding electrochemical performances towards ORR. Finally, the remaining puzzles and perspectives for further development of the electrospinning nanofibers involving electrocatalysis are presented. It is envisioned that this review would offer an important direction in designing novel electrocatalysts based on electrospinning nanofibrous structures and developing their potential.     

二维材料电催化剂的构建及其CO2还原应用的研究进展

近年来,随着温室效应即全球变暖引发的环境问题越来越严峻,因此,CO2转化与再生引起了科学界的广泛关注,其中备受关注的是电催化CO2还原。而二维材料电催化剂可以将CO2还原为高附加值的多碳化合物,但催化剂的合成设计以及理论研究有待更多的研究。从发现石墨烯开始,二维材料的其他超薄层状结构的广泛研究逐渐出现。本文重点综述了石墨烯、MXenes、金属氧化物、二维MOFs和过渡金属硫族化合物等二维材料的构建以及其CO2还原电催化技术应用方面的最新进展,并简要的介绍了二维材料的分类和制备方法。讨论了电催化CO2还原的基本原理以及反应途径。指出了二维材料电催化剂面临的机遇和挑战,旨在对二维材料电催化剂的合成以及应用提供一些新的思路。     

“Metal‐Free” Catalytic Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Heteroatom‐Doped Graphene is Caused by Trace Metal Impurities

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of high industrial importance. There is a large body of literature showing that metal‐based catalytic nanoparticles (e.g. Co, Mn, Fe or hybrid Mn/Co‐based nanoparticles) supported on graphene act as efficient catalysts for the ORR. A significant research effort is also directed to the so‐called “metal‐free” oxygen reduction reaction on heteroatom‐doped graphene surfaces. While such studies of the ORR on nonmetallic heteroatom‐doped graphene are advertised as “metal‐free” there is typically no sufficient effort to characterize the doped materials to verify that they are indeed free of any trace metal. Here we argue that the claimed “metal‐free” electrocatalysis of the oxygen reduction reaction on heteroatom‐doped graphene is caused by metallic impurities present within the graphene materials.     

Transition Metal Oxides for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction: Influence of the Oxidation States of the Metal and its Position on the Periodic Table

Electrocatalysts have been developed to meet the needs and requirements of renewable energy applications. Metal oxides have been well explored and are promising for this purpose, however, many reports focus on only one or a few metal oxides at once. Herein, thirty metal oxides, which were either commercially available or synthesized by a simple and scalable method, were screened for comparison with regards to their electrocatalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). We show that although manganese, iron, cobalt, and nickel oxides generally displayed the ability to enhance the kinetics of oxygen reduction under alkaline conditions compared with bare glassy carbon, there is no significant correlation between the position of a metal on the periodic table and the electrocatalytic performance of its respective metal oxides. Moreover, it was also observed that mixed valent (+2, +3) oxides performed the poorest, compared with their respective pure metal oxides. These findings may be of paramount importance in the field of renewable energy.     

Regulation of 2D Graphene Materials for Electrocatalysis

Benefiting from unique excellent physical and chemical characteristics, graphene has attracted widespread attention in the application of electrocatalysis. As a promising candidate, graphene is usually regulated with surface defects, heteroatoms, metal atoms and other active materials through covalent or non‐covalent bonds to substitute for noble metal catalysts, which has not been targeted in a report yet. In this review, we summarize the recent advances of approaches for engineering graphene‐based electrocatalysts and emphasize the corresponding electrocatalytic active sites in various electrocatalysis circumstances, such as electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), etc. The opportunities and challenges in the future development of graphene‐based catalysts are also discussed.     

Transition metal carbides in electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

Oxygen evolution reaction(OER) is admitted to an important half reaction in water splitting for sustainable hydrogen production.The sluggish four-electron process is known to be the bottleneck for enhancing the efficiency of OER.In this regard,tremendous efforts have been devoted to developing effective catalysts for OER.In addition to Ir-or Ru-based oxides taken as the benchmark,transition metal carbides have attracted ever-increasing interest due to the high activity and stability as low-cost OER electrocatalysts.In this review,the transition metal carbides for water oxidation electrocatalysis concerning design strategies and synthesis are briefly summarized.Some typical applications for various carbides are also highlighted.Besides,the development trends and outlook are also discussed.     

Carbon‐Based Metal‐Free Catalysts for Electrocatalysis beyond the ORR

Besides their use in fuel cells for energy conversion through the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), carbon‐based metal‐free catalysts have also been demonstrated to be promising alternatives to noble‐metal/metal oxide catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in metal–air batteries for energy storage and for the splitting of water to produce hydrogen fuels through the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This Review focuses on recent progress in the development of carbon‐based metal‐free catalysts for the OER and HER, along with challenges and perspectives in the emerging field of metal‐free electrocatalysis.     

Shifting Oxygen Charge Towards Octahedral Metal: A Way to Promote Water Oxidation on Cobalt Spinel Oxides

Cobalt spinel oxides are a class of promising transition metal (TM) oxides for catalyzing oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Their catalytic activity depends on the electronic structure. In a spinel oxide lattice, each oxygen anion is shared amongst its four nearest transition metal cations, of which one is located within the tetrahedral interstices and the remaining three cations are in the octahedral interstices. This work uncovered the influence of oxygen anion charge distribution on the electronic structure of the redox‐active building block Co?O. The charge of oxygen anion tends to shift toward the octahedral‐occupied Co instead of tetrahedral‐occupied Co, which hence produces strong orbital interaction between octahedral Co and O. Thus, the OER activity can be promoted by pushing more Co into the octahedral site or shifting the oxygen charge towards the redox‐active metal center in CoO₆ octahedra.     

太阳能光解水制氢的研究进展

本文概述了利用光催化技术催化分解水制氢的反应机理和研究进展。结合作者的最近研究,重点描述了TiO2及过渡金属氧化物,层状金属氧化物以及某些能利用可见光的光催化材料的结构和光催化特性,阐述了核课题的意义和今后的研究方向。     

Nanostructured platinum becomes alloyed at oxide-composite substrate

We report on Pt selectively photodeposited on oxides sites of Ti-, and W-carbon composites. The change of the lattice parameter strongly suggests that the metal center alloys with the metal centers of the oxides with a concomitant change of electronic properties favorable for oxygen reduction reaction in acid medium.     

The regular features of chlorine formation in the systems NaCl-MexOy-O2 and Ca(Zn)Cl2-MexOy-O2

The reaction of sodium, calcium, and zinc chlorides with atmospheric oxygen in the presence of transition metal oxides and antimony oxide at temperatures exceeding the melting temperatures of chlorides was studied. The content of chorine, product of oxidation of chloride ions in molten NaCl and CaCl₂, was determined as a function of the polarization force of cations of transition metal oxides.     

Electrocatalysis and pH (a review)

The factors determining pH effects on principal catalytic reactions in low-temperature fuel cells (oxygen reduction, hydrogen oxidation, and primary alcohols oxidation) are analyzed. The decreasing of hydrogen oxidation rate when passing from acidic electrolytes to basic ones was shown to be due to the electrode surface blocking by oxygen-containing species and changes in the adsorbed hydrogen energy state. In the case of oxygen reduction, the key factors determining the process’ kinetics and mechanism are: the O₂ adsorption energy, the adsorbed molecule protonation, and the oxygen reaction thermodynamics. The process’ high selectivity in acidic electrolytes at platinum electrodes is caused by rather high Pt-O₂ bond energy and its protonation. The passing from acidic electrolytes to basic ones involves a decrease in the oxygen adsorption energy, both at platinum and nonplatinum catalysts, hence, in the selectivity of the oxygen-to-water reduction reaction. The increase in the methanol and ethanol oxidation rate in basic media, as compared with acidic ones, is due to changes in the reacting species’ structure (because of the alcohol molecules dissociation) on the one hand, and active OH_ads species inflow to the reaction zone, on the other hand. In the case of ethanol, the above-listed factors determine the process’ increased selectivity with respect to CO₂ at higher pHs. Based on the survey and valuation, priority guidelines in the electrocatalysis of commercially important reactions are formulated, in particular, concepts of electrocatalysis at nonplatinum electrode materials that are stable in basic electrolytes, and approaches to the practical control of the rate and selectivity of oxygen reduction and primary alcohols oxidation over wide pH range.