Nanostructured Transition Metal Nitrides as Emerging Electrocatalysts for Water Electrolysis: Status and Challenges

• Published in: EnergyChem Vol. 4; no. 2; p. 100072
• Main Authors: Lin, Liwei, Piao, Shuqing, Choi, Yejung, Lyu, Lulu, Hong, Hwichan, Kim, Dohyeong, Lee, Jeongyeon, Zhang, Wang, Piao, Yuanzhe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-03-2022
• Subjects: Electrocatalyst; Nanostructure; Synthetic strategies; Transition metal nitrides; Water electrolysis; Water electrolysis; Electrocatalyst; Nanostructure; Synthetic strategies; Transition metal nitrides
• ISSN: 2589-7780; 2589-7780
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enchem.2022.100072

•Nanostructured transition metal nitride (TMNs) electrocatalysts for water electrolysis are overviewed.•The related catalytic reactions and the catalytic activity of different TMNs on a theoretical basis are analyzed.•Engineering strategies for improving electrocatalytic performance of TMNs are also discussed.•Some of the challenges and perspectives that remain in this rapidly evolving field are discussed.
Water electrolysis has aroused extensive research efforts due to its potential applications of sewage disposal, microorganism treatment and direct electrolysis for large-scale hydrogen production. At this background, transition metal nitrides (TMNs) have raised lots of attention, because their physical properties are similar to those of metallic elements and TMNs have unique electron orbital structures. The inner nitrogens can increase the electron density of d-bands of transition metals, so that the electronic structures of TMNs are similar with some precious metals, whose density of states can cross the Fermi level. Therefore, TMNs have similar conductivities with metals and possess superior electrocatalytic performance. Nanostructured TMNs tend to have relatively large dispersion and more exposed active sites, which have direct improvement for catalytic activity and stability as electrochemical catalysts. This review summarizes the representative progress of TMNs based catalysts on both synthetic strategies of structural engineering and electronic engineering for improving electrocatalytic performance, especially in hydrogen evolution, oxygen evolution and water splitting. Finally, we further propose the future challenges and research directions of nanostructured TMNs in the electrochemical energy fields of efficient preparations and performance enhancements.