Review of nonprecious metal electrocatalysts in cathode hydrogen generation by seawater electrocatalysis

Abstract

Hydrogen energy has the advantages of high energy density,green and sustainability,which make it an ideal energy source for human society.Hydrogen generation by seawater electrocatalysis becomes the strategic direction of hydrogen energy industry in the future.The activity and stability of cathode hydrogen evolution catalyst are vital to this hydrogen energy strategy.Although the precious metal Pt-based electrocatalysts have shown excellent catalytic performance on hydrogen evolution,the high price and scarce resources limit their large-scale application.Therefore,nonprecious metal electrocatalysts have attracted much research attention.Starting from the principle of hydrogen evolution reaction,important parameters of overpotential,Tafel slope,Faraday efficiency,specific activity and mass activity,etc.were introduced to evaluate catalytic performances.The review summarized recent progress on multiple nonprecious metal electrocatalysts for cathode hydrogen generation by seawater electrocatalysis,and the problems of current research was clarified.Additionally,the future research of nonprecious metal electrocatalysts in cathode for large-scale hydrogen generation by seawater electrocatalysis was prospected from the following aspects:1) Designing nonprecious metal catalysts with high activity and stability;2) Optimizing production and preparation process of nonprecious metal catalyst;3) Using advanced test and characterization to construct reaction models;4) Deepening theoretical calculation for the mechanism research.

Keywords

• hydrogen energy; seawater electrocatalysis; hydrogen evolution reaction; nonprecious metal catalyst; hydrogen adsorption free energy; electronic structure; heteroatom