Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Dec;18(52):e2204524.
doi: 10.1002/smll.202204524. Epub 2022 Oct 26.

Advances in the Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction by Metal Nanoclusters-based Materials

Junyang Ding  1 , Hui Yang  2 , Shusheng Zhang  3 , Qian Liu  4 , Huanqi Cao  2 , Jun Luo  1 , Xijun Liu  5
Affiliations
Review

Advances in the Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction by Metal Nanoclusters-based Materials

Junyang Ding et al. Small. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

With the development of renewable energy systems, clean hydrogen is burgeoning as an optimal alternative to fossil fuels, in which its application is promising to retarding the global energy and environmental crisis. The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), capable of producing high-purity hydrogen rapidly in electrocatalytic water splitting, has received much attention. Abundant research about HER has been done, focusing on advanced electrocatalyst design with high efficiency and robust stability. As potential HER catalysts, metal nanoclusters (MNCs) have been studied extensively. They are composed of several to a hundred metal atoms, with sizes being comparable to the Fermi wavelength of electrons, that is, < 2.0 nm. Different from metal atoms/nanoparticles, they exhibit unique catalytic properties due to their quantum size effect and low-coordination environment. In this review, the activity-enhancing approaches of MNCs applied in HER electrocatalysis are mainly summarized. Furthermore, recent progress in MNCs classified with different stabilization strategies, that is, the freestanding MNCs, MNCs with organic, metal and carbon supports, are introduced. Finally, the current challenges and deficiencies of these MNCs for HER are prospected.

Keywords: catalyst design; hydrogen production; metal nanoclusters; water splitting.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. T. Takata, J. Z. Jiang, Y. Sakata, M. Nakabayashi, N. Shibata, V. Nandal, K. Seki, T. Hisatomi, K. Domen, Nature 2020, 581, 411.
    1. C. Wei, R. R. Rao, J. Y. Peng, B. T. Huang, I. E. L. Stephens, M. Risch, Z. C. J. Xu, Y. Shao-Horn, Adv. Mater. 2019, 31, 1806296.
    1. G. C. Qi, Q. R. Zhao, Q. J. Liu, D. Y. Fang, X. J. Liu, Ionics 2021, 27, 3579.
    1. X. Z. Wang, S. Liu, H. Zhang, S. S. Zhang, G. Meng, Q. Liu, Z. Y. Sun, J. Luo, X. J. Liu, Chem. Commun. 2022, 58, 7654.
    1. L. Guojin, L. Xinliang, W. Yanbo, Y. Shuo, H. Zhaodong, Y. Qi, W. Donghong, D. Binbin, Z. Minshen, Z. Chunyi, Nano Res. Energy 2022, 1, e9120002.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources