Advanced Multifunctional Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

The development of electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices (e.g., fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and water splitting) offers new opportunities to address global energy challenges; however, development is limited by the lack of suitable electrocatalysts to drive electrode reactions. To overcome this limitation, much effort has been devoted to advancing both fundamental understanding and practical application of electrocatalysis-related reactions, such as oxygen reduction reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, etc. This Perspective covers the state-of-the-art technologies in the research and development of multifunctional electrocatalysts with a special emphasis on novel design strategies and a deeper discussion of the structure-activity-performance correlations. Future challenges as well as new opportunities in this exciting field are also discussed. The Perspective offers scientific ideas and sheds new light on multifunctional nanomaterial design and energy device performance optimization leading to efficient electrochemical energy conversion as power sources.