Abstract
The unique layered morphology of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures give rise to a blended set of electrochemical properties from the 2D sheet components. Herein an overview of their potential in energy storage systems in place of precious metals is conducted. The most recent progress on vdW electrocatalysis covering the last three years of research is evaluated, with an emphasis on their catalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This analysis is conducted in pair with the most active Pt-based commercial catalyst currently utilized in energy systems that rely on the above-listed electrochemistry (metal–air battery, fuel cells, and water electrolyzers). Based on current progress in HER catalysis that employs vdW materials, several recommendations can be stated. First, stacking of the two types vdW materials, with one being graphene or its doped derivatives, results in significantly improved HER activity. The second important recommendation is to take advantage of an electronic coupling when stacking 2D materials with the metallic surface. This significantly reduces the face-to-face contact resistance and thus improves the electron transfer from the metallic surface to the vdW catalytic plane. A dual advantage can be achieved from combining the vdW heterostructure with metals containing an excess of d electrons (e.g., gold). Despite these recent and promising discoveries, more studies are needed to solve the complexity of the mechanism of HER reaction, in particular with respect to the electron coupling effects (metal/vdW combinations). In addition, more affordable synthetic pathways allowing for a well-controlled confined HER catalysis are emerging areas.
Highlights
Climate change caused by rising global carbon emissions has driven the need for greener sources of energy and high-performance energy storage systems [1,2,3,4,5]
Commercial metal–air batteries, metal-ion batteries, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), and electrolyzers rely on precious metals, such as palladium, iridium, lithium, and platinum, to drive their internal processes [6,7,8]
One excellent study that correlates dimensionality sionality with catalytic activity is a work performed by Sihrostami et al In particular, absorption energies of key oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) intermediate over a variety of 2D materials was analyzed using density functional theory [21]
Summary
Climate change caused by rising global carbon emissions has driven the need for greener sources of energy and high-performance energy storage systems [1,2,3,4,5]. With a need for more affordable, easy-to-scale-up, and yet well-performing electrochemical materials, the rising questions are how van der Waal materials could potentially replace currently utilized battery components? For fuel cells and electrolyzers, the main obstacle is the cost of platinum needed for top-notch performance. The development of vdW-based materials that can eventually replace platinum-based electrodes is driven by the need for much cheaper, abundant, and easy-tobe synthesized catalysts. In contrast to currently published reviews on vdW materials [12,13,14,15,16], this study surveys the progress made in the last three years (2019–2021) and compares 2D-tailored vdW configurations and their intriguing electrocatalytic activities as electrodes in clean energy applications. Understanding the catalytic mechanism taking place with vdWbased electrocatalysts helps to uncover their potential to be utilized as affordable, highly active, and yet electrochemically stable electrode materials that could potentially compete with the most active Pt-based electrodes
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