The development of highly efficient catalysts to improve the electrochemical performance is urgently needed due to the ever-increasing demand for energy storage and conversion devices in the last few decades. However, the electrochemical performances are still not satisfying to be potentially used in industrial applications. Here, we present our recent research on the structure tuning for electrocatalysts designed for energy storage and conversion devices such as Li-O2 batteries and electrochemical water splitting.1-5 We show that by carefully designing and tailoring the molecular and electronic structures, the efficiency of the applied catalysts could be maximized which would be highly beneficial for the electrochemical performances in their individual applications. For instance, TEMPO-modified ionic liquid could stabilize the lithium anode and prolong the cycle life of Li-O2 battery,2 while in-situ exfoliated MXene coupled with single Pt atoms show a mass activity more than 40 times higher than the commercial Pt/C.4 All these provide theoretical and experimental guidance to develop highly efficient catalysts for energy storage and conversion devices in the future.
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