How to minimise destabilising effect of gas bubbles on water splitting electrocatalysts?

Development of efficient electrocatalytic gas-evolving elec-trodes is one of the essential prerequisites for the deployment of hydrogen-based electrochemical energy conversion and storage. Gas bubbles generated by electrolysis at electro-catalytic interfaces manifest into undesirable increase in overpotential that simultaneously compromises stability of the electrocatalytic materials. A key research question is how to use theory and advanced experimental tools to holistically understand the mechanism of gas-evolution phenomena and finally arrive at principles of electrode design that will assure facile gas evolution. The analysis given in this work offers an optimistic framework how to significantly reduce overpotential and enhance electrode stability during water electrolysis.

Automated summary

The development of efficient electrocatalytic gas-evolving electrodes is crucial for hydrogen-based electrochemical energy conversion and storage. The analysis in this work presents an optimistic framework for reducing overpotential and enhancing electrode stability during water electrolysis.