Abstract:
The development of highly efficient catalysts to improve electrochemical performances is urgently needed due to the ever-increasing demand for energy conversion devices in the last few decades. Electrochemical water electrocatalysis and fuel cells are the two representatives for the next-generation energy conversion. However, the electrochemical performances are still not satisfying to be potentially used in industrial applications. Here we present our recent research on developing atomically dispersed electrocatalysts for energy conversion reactions.1-5 We show that by carefully designing and tailoring the coordination environment, the efficiency of the applied catalysts could be maximized which would be highly beneficial for the electrochemical performances in their individual applications. For instance, in-situ exfoliated MXene coupled with Pt single atoms showed high hydrogen generation performance with a mass activity more than 40 times higher than the commercial Pt/C, while the epoxy-rich Fe single atoms boosted the oxygen reduction kinetics. All these provide theoretical and experimental guidance to develop highly efficient catalysts for energy conversion reactions in the future.
Reference