Various gas-involving energy electrocatalysis, including oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), have witnessed increasing concerns recently for the sake of clean, renewable, and efficient energy technologies. However, these heterogeneous reactions exhibit sluggish kinetics due to multi-step electron transfer and only occur at triple-phase boundary regions.<br/>In this talk, we overview our recent attempts toward efficient gas-involving electrocatalysis with multiscale principles from the respect of electronic structure, hierarchical morphology, and electrode interface on 2D electrocatalysts step by step. It is widely accepted that the intrinsic activity of individual active sites is directly influenced by their electronic structure. Heteroatom doping and topological defects are demonstrated to be the most effective strategies for metal-free nanocarbon materials. Additionally, the apparent activity of the whole electrocatalyst is significantly impacted by its hierarchical morphology. The active sites of nanocarbon materials are expected to be enriched on the surface for a full exposure and utilization; the hybridization of other active components with nanocarbon materials should achieve a uniform dispersion in nanoscale and a strongly coupled interface, thereby ensuring the electron transfer and boosting the activity. Furthermore, steady and favorable electrochemical interfaces are strongly anticipated in working electrodes for optimal reaction conditions. The powdery electrocatalysts are suggested to be constructed into self-supported electrodes for more efficient and stable catalysis integrally, while the local microenvironment can be versatilely modified by ionic liquids with more beneficial gas solubility and hydrophobicity.

Multiscale principles to boost reactivity of 2D materials in gas-involving energy electrocatalysis

256th National Meeting (2018)

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