Structural engineering of transition metal-based nanostructured electrocatalysts for efficient water splitting

Abstract

Water splitting is a highly promising approach for the generation of sustainable, clean hydrogen energy. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to exploring highly efficient and abundant metal oxide electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution reactions to lower the energy consumption in water splitting. In this review, we summarize the recent advances on the development of metal oxide electrocatalysts with special emphasis on the structural engineering of nanostructures from particle size, composition, crystalline facet, hybrid structure as well as the conductive supports. The special strategies relay on the transformation from the metal organic framework and ion exchange reactions for the preparation of novel metal oxide nanostructures with boosting the catalytic activities are also discussed. The fascinating methods would pave the way for rational design of advanced electrocatalysts for efficient water splitting.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

water splitting / structure engineering / metal organic framework / ion exchange / synergistic effect / hybrid structure / conductive supports

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21503116). Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province (No. tsqn20161004) and the Youth 1000 Talent Program of China are also acknowledged.

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