Electrocatalytic Water-Splitting

Dear Colleagues,

Electrochemical water splitting to generate hydrogen and oxygen fuels provides eco-friendly energy sources for fuel cell technology. Noble metals such as Pt and IrO₂ and RuO₂ have been applied as catalysts for cathodes and anodes for H₂ evolution (HER) and O₂ production (OER). There are major problems in employing these metals, as they are expensive and have poor electrochemical stability. The fabrication of cost-efficient electrocatalysts for HER and OER or with high bifunctional catalytic activity is highly desired for electrochemical water splitting. With the rapid development of nanomaterials, 2D materials represented by graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as MoS₂, WSe₂, etc. have risen as efficient and cheaper catalysts. The layer structure is controlled through thinning and surface or edge modification, and the construction of heterostructures has been reported to enhance the electrocatalytic activity of 2D materials. Moreover, metal-organic framework (MOF) nanostructures featuring a tunable fine pore structure, high surface area, and high porosity are promising for the preparation of bifunctional electrocatalysts. The uniform distribution of catalyst can be achieved either by stabilizing the catalyst nanoclusters inside the mesopore structures of the MOF, or by tuning the metal precursors and further applying thermal annealing to obtain a nanostructured carbon wrapped catalyst.

The main focus of this Special Issue on “Electrocatalytic Water Splitting” will be on water oxidation catalysis and hydrogen evolution. We invite researchers to contribute original research papers and reviews related to the design, synthesis, and characterization of electrocatalysts, including 2D materials, MOFs, carbon-based, etc., and studies of activity, catalytic active center, electrochemical stability, mechanisms, and computational chemistry.

The main topics include, but are not limited to:

• Electrocatalysts for water splitting;
• Electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction;
• Electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction;
• High-performance electrocatalysts for water splitting;
• Computational screening of electrocatalysts for water splitting.

Prof. Dr. Linfei Lai
Guest Editor

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• electrocatalysis
• water splitting
• oxygen evolution reaction
• hydrogen evolution reaction
• electrocatalysts