Abstract
AbstractTransition metal hydroxides (M‐OH) and their heterostructures (X|M‐OH, where X can be a metal, metal oxide, metal chalcogenide, metal phosphide, etc.) have recently emerged as highly active electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of alkaline water electrolysis. Lattice hydroxide anions in metal hydroxides are primarily responsible for observing such an enhanced HER activity in alkali that facilitate water dissociation and assist the first step, the hydrogen adsorption. Unfortunately, their poor electronic conductivity had been an issue of concern that significantly lowered its activity. Interesting advancements were made when heterostructured hydroxide materials with a metallic and or a semiconducting phase were found to overcome this pitfall. However, in the midst of recently evolving metal chalcogenide and phosphide based HER catalysts, significant developments made in the field of metal hydroxides and their heterostructures catalysed alkaline HER and their superiority have unfortunately been given negligible attention. This review, unlike others, begins with the question of why alkaline HER is difficult and will take the reader through evaluation perspectives, trends in metals hydroxides and their heterostructures catalysed HER, an understanding of how alkaline HER works on different interfaces, what must be the research directions of this field in near future, and eventually summarizes why metal hydroxides and their heterostructures are inevitable for energy‐efficient alkaline HER.
Highlights
Eco-friendlier and efficient hydrogen production has been one of the most attention-grabbing topics of energy research ever since the idea of hydrogen economy was coined with a vision to achieve the “affordable and clean energy” goal of 17 sustainable development goals proposed by the united nations.[1,2]
A similar method that primarily consists of steam reforming for hydrogen production is biomass gasification and catalytic reforming under steam.[9,10]
In real cases, there are other phenomena that add further workload and makes the electrode to demand a certain quantity of additional energy to begin the reaction of interest
Summary
It is explicit that for efficient alkaline HER, Sengeni Anantharaj obtained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in chemistry from The Presidency College affiliated to University of Madras, Chennai in 2011 and 2013, respectively Later, he obtained his PhD in 2018 from CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India. Suguru Noda received his PhD in 1999 from The University of Tokyo, became an assistant professor and associate professor there, and joined Waseda University in 2012 as a full professor He is a chemical engineer conducting research in the field of materials processes. He obtained his PhD degree and completed his habilitation at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. His research focuses on the design, development, and structural understanding of novel unconventional catalysts in heterogeneous catalysis, especially in the area of redox oxygen catalysis, and (photo)electrocatalytic water splitting
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