Recent advances in non-precious metal electrocatalysts for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen production by water electrolysis is a compelling technology to produce fuels and chemicals powered by renewable energy. It is highly desirable to develop cost-effective and durable electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This review has summarized recent progress in mechanism understanding of non-precious metal electrocatalysts for pH-universal HER. The general approaches have been demonstrated to overcome the activity/stability limitations of the electrocatalysts for HER in a broad pH range. The perspectives and challenges for the development of pH-universal HER electrocatalysts have also been proposed. This review sheds light on the design and fabrication of high-performance electrocatalysts for versatile HER-related energy technologies. (C) 2020, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

Automated summary

This review summarizes recent progress in understanding the mechanism of non-precious metal electrocatalysts for pH-universal HER, and demonstrates general approaches to overcome the limitations of electrocatalysts in a broad pH range. It also proposes perspectives and challenges for the development of pH-universal HER electrocatalysts.