Emerging nanostructured electrode materials for water electrolysis and rechargeable beyond Li-ion batteries

Abstract

This review describes recent advances in electrochemical water electrolysis and rechargeable beyond Li-ion battery research, two emergent and widely employed technologies playing important roles in clean energy production and storage. The principle components of these electrochemical processes are electrode materials, which are currently facing challenges in performance improvement, thus motivating the development of novel electrode materials. This development requires synergistic interactions between experimentalists and theorists with backgrounds in solid state chemistry, condensed matter physics, and materials science and engineering. In light of a large amount of literature covering the topic, we will focus this review on the seminal electrode materials that have been discovered in the last five years, such as transition metal chalcogenides, carbides, and phosphides, as well as 2D layered materials. Intensive cross-disciplinary research is also dedicated to nanostructuring and hybridization of the emerging electrode materials in order to maximize the efficiency and simultaneously to lower the cost of the processes. As the understanding of the nanoscale-related effects deepens, it opens important pathways to the discovery of further materials and their improvement.

Keywords

• Electrodes
• electrocatalysis
• transition metals
• beyond Li-ion batteries
• 2D intercalation hosts