The scale of renewable energy challenges not only calls for highly efficient photovoltaic or photoelectrochemical (PEC) technologies but also abundant, inexpensive, and robust materials. Earth-abundant but highly active electrocatalysts need to be developed to enable efficient and sustainable production of energy using electrocatalytic water splitting or production of other valuable chemicals. We report nanostructures of earth-abundant electrocatalysts, such as exfoliated nanosheets of MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and significantly enhanced their catalytic activity [1,2]. We established nanotructures of ternary pyrite-type cobalt phosphosulfide (CoPS) as the best earth-abundant HER catalyst in acidic conditions to date [3]. Further enhancement of electrocatalytic activity is achieved by tuning the chemical composition and electronic structures of the increasingly complex catalysts [4]. For oxygen evolution reaction (OER), NiCo and NiFe layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been exfoliated into high surface area nanosheets to enhance their catalytic activity [5]. Trimetallic NiFeCr LDH with enhanced catalytic activity was discovered [6]. Furthermore, efficient and selective electrochemical oxidation of biomass-derived platform molecules (such as HMF and glycerol) to produce value-added oxygenated chemicals and hydrogen under mild conditions can be realized using these catalysts [7].

Designing efficient earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the conversion of energy and chemicals

2019 Spring National Meeting

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