Recent Advances in High-Efficiency Electrocatalytic Water Splitting Systems

Xian-Wei Lv; Wen-Wen Tian; Zhong-Yong Yuan

doi:10.1007/s41918-022-00159-1

Electrochemical Energy Reviews ›› 2023, Vol. 6 ›› Issue (1) DOI: 10.1007/s41918-022-00159-1

Review Article

Recent Advances in High-Efficiency Electrocatalytic Water Splitting Systems

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¹Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nankai University, 300350, Tianjin, China

^c zyyuan@nankai.edu.cn

Xian-Wei Lv

received his B.Eng. degree in 2014 from Xiangtan University, and obtained his M.Eng. degree in 2019 from Nankai University. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Prof. Zhong-Yong Yuan at Nankai University. His current research focuses on the rational design and energy-related applications of nanostructured materials.

Wen-Wen Tian

received her B.E. degree from Northeast Forestry University in 2018. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Prof. Zhong-Yong Yuan at Nankai University. Her current research focuses on the design, fabrication, and application of advanced electrocatalysts for energy conversion reactions.

Zhong-Yong Yuan

is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He received his Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from Nankai University in 1999. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1999 to 2001. He then moved to Belgium, working as a research fellow at the University of Namur from 2001 to 2005, prior to joining Nankai University as a full professor. His research interests are mainly on the self-assembly of hierarchically nanoporous and nanostructured materials for energy and environmental applications.

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Abstract

Electrocatalytic water splitting driven by renewable energy input to produce clean hydrogen (H₂) has been widely considered a prospective approach for a future hydrogen-based society. However, the development of industrial alkaline water electrolyzers is hindered due to their unfavorable thermodynamics with high overpotential for delivering the whole process, caused by sluggish kinetics involving four-electron transfer. Further exploration of water electrolysis with low energy consumption and high efficiency is urgently required to meet the ever-growing energy storage and portfolio demands. This review emphasizes the strategies proposed thus far to pursue high-efficiency water electrolysis systems, including from the aspects of electrocatalysts (from monofunctional to bifunctional), electrode engineering (from powdery to self-supported), energy sources (from nonrenewable to renewable), electrolytes (from pure to hybrid), and cell configurations (from integrated to decoupled). Critical appraisals of the pivotal electrochemistry are highlighted to address the challenges in elevating the overall efficiency of water splitting. Finally, valuable insights for the future development directions and bottlenecks of advanced, sustainable, and high-efficiency water splitting systems are outlined.

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Xian-Wei Lv, Wen-Wen Tian, Zhong-Yong Yuan. Recent Advances in High-Efficiency Electrocatalytic Water Splitting Systems. Electrochemical Energy Reviews, 2023, 6(1): DOI:10.1007/s41918-022-00159-1