Electrocatalysis articles within Nature Materials

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  • News & Views |

    Self-assembling covalent organic frameworks can boost electrode performance for the catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide.

    • Idan Hod
    • , Omar K. Farha
    •  & Joseph T. Hupp

  • Article |

    Heavy alkaline-earth hydrides could be of interest as ionically conducting electrolytes for electrochemical applications. Barium hydride is now shown to exhibit fast ionic transport of hydride ions in a high-temperature and high-symmetry phase.

    • Maarten C. Verbraeken
    • , Chaksum Cheung
    •  & John T. S. Irvine

  • Article |

    Molecular switches regulate many fundamental processes in natural and artificial systems. An electrochemical platform in which a proton carrier switches the activity of a catalyst is now presented. A hybrid bilayer membrane allows the regulation of proton transport to a Cu-based molecular oxygen reduction reaction catalyst.

    • Christopher J. Barile
    • , Edmund C. M. Tse
    •  & Andrew A. Gewirth

  • Article |

    Photoelectrochemical water-splitting devices require integrating electrocatalysts with light-absorbing semiconductors, but understanding charge-transfer processes at interfaces has proved difficult. Ion-permeable electrocatalysts deposited onto TiO2 photoelectrodes now result in adaptive semiconductor/electrocatalyst junctions where both the effective interface barrier height and the photovoltage output change depending on the oxidation state of the electrocatalyst.

    • Fuding Lin
    •  & Shannon W. Boettcher

  • Article |

    The electrochemical reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide requires selective and stable electrocatalysts. It is now shown that Pt–Hg nanoparticles display an order of magnitude improvement in the mass activity for hydrogen peroxide production compared with the best performing catalyst.

    • Samira Siahrostami
    • , Arnau Verdaguer-Casadevall
    •  & Jan Rossmeisl

  • Article |

    The catalytic activity of highly dispersed platinum nanoparticles is not yet well understood. Now, a unique approach that allows precise control of both the size and coverage of platinum nanoclusters reveals that particle proximity influences the oxygen reduction rate of these size-selected clusters, especially in terms of mass normalized activity.

    • Markus Nesselberger
    • , Melanie Roefzaad
    •  & Matthias Arenz

  • Article |

    Efficient evolution of hydrogen via electrocatalysis at low overpotentials is promising for clean energy production. Monolayered nanosheets of chemically exfoliated WS2 are shown to be efficient catalysts for hydrogen evolution at very low overpotentials. The enhanced catalytic performance is associated with the high concentration of the strained metallic octahedral phase in the exfoliated nanosheets.

    • Damien Voiry
    • , Hisato Yamaguchi
    •  & Manish Chhowalla

  • Article |

    Although site-dependent metal surface segregation in bimetallic nanoalloys affects catalytic activity and stability, segregation on shaped nanocatalysts and their atomic-scale evolution is largely unexplored. PtxNi1−x alloy nanoparticle electrocatalysts with unique activity for oxygen reduction reactions exhibit an unexpected compositional segregation structure across the {111} facets.

    • Chunhua Cui
    • , Lin Gan
    •  & Peter Strasser

  • News & Views |

    Electrocatalysis lies at the heart of the chemical phenomena that take place at electrochemical interfaces. In the future it will be the key to driving technological innovations that are urgently needed to deliver reliable, affordable and environmentally friendly energy.

    • Nenad M. Markovic

  • Article |

    Some of the most challenging issues in energy conversion are the insufficient activity of the catalysts for the oxygen-reduction reaction, catalyst degradation and carbon-support corrosion. A class of mesostructured carbon-free metallic catalysts based on thin films and with tunable near-surface composition, morphology and structure that lead to an improved affinity for the electrochemical reduction of oxygen are now reported.

    • Dennis F. van der Vliet
    • , Chao Wang
    •  & Vojislav R. Stamenkovic

  • Article |

    Enhancing and optimizing the performance and durability of nanocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction is crucial for fuel-cell applications. A class of Pt–Co nanocatalysts consisting of ordered Pt3Co intermetallic cores with a 2–3 atomic-layer-thick platinum shell now exhibit a large increase in mass activity and specific activity when compared with disordered alloy nanoparticles.

    • Deli Wang
    • , Huolin L. Xin
    •  & Héctor D. Abruña

  • Article |

    Controlling surface structure at the atomic scale is paramount to developing effective catalysts. The surface structure of MoS2 is now engineered to preferentially expose edge sites by successfully synthesizing contiguous large-area thin films of a highly ordered double-gyroid MoS2 bicontinuous network with nanoscale pores.

    • Jakob Kibsgaard
    • , Zhebo Chen
    •  & Thomas F. Jaramillo

  • Article |

    Innovative solutions for the design of sustainable and efficient systems for the conversion and storage of renewable energy sources are needed, and one promising option is the production of hydrogen through water splitting. A nanoparticulate electrocatalytic material consisting of metallic cobalt coated with a cobalt-oxo/hydroxo-phosphate layer is now found to exhibit active hydrogen evolution, and can also be converted into a cobalt oxide film catalysing oxygen evolution.

    • Saioa Cobo
    • , Jonathan Heidkamp
    •  & Vincent Artero

  • Article |

    Efficient electrochemical transformation of water to molecular hydrogen and of hydroxyl ions to oxygen in alkaline environments is important for reducing energy losses in water–alkali electrolysers. Insight into the activities of hydr(oxy)oxides on platinum catalyst surfaces for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions should prove significant for designing practical alkaline electrocatalysts.

    • Ram Subbaraman
    • , Dusan Tripkovic
    •  & Nenad M. Markovic

  • Article |

    A key step in fuel-cell energy-conversion processes is electro-oxidation of the fuel at the anode, but ways to improve electrocatalytic activity remain unclear. Using ceria–metal structures, H2-oxidation reactions are shown to be dominated by electrocatalysis at the oxide/gas interface with minimal contributions from the oxide/metal/gas triple-phase boundaries.

    • William C. Chueh
    • , Yong Hao
    •  & Sossina M. Haile

  • Letter |

    The improvement of catalysts for the oxygen-reduction reaction is an important challenge for fuel cells and other electrochemical-energy technologies. A composite nanoporous Ni–Pt alloy with a tailored geometric architecture is now shown to exhibit high mass activity for oxygen reduction.

    • J. Snyder
    • , T. Fujita
    •  & J. Erlebacher

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