Earth-Abundant Metal-Based Electrocatalysts Promoted Anodic Reaction in Hybrid Water Electrolysis for Efficient Hydrogen Production: Recent Progress and Perspectives

摘要

Exploring advanced technologies to efficiently produce green hydrogenenergy is imperative to alleviate the energy crisis and environmentalpollution. Conventional overall water electrolysis (OWE) has been regardedas a promising approach for effective H_2 production, however, it is largelyrestricted by the sluggish kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction(OER). Coupling kinetically favorable anodic reactions, such as biomassderivedcompound oxidation and pollutant degradation, with the hydrogenevolution reaction (HER) in hybrid water electrolysis (HWE), can not onlysolve the biomass recycling and pollutant emission problems but also savethe energy cost for clean H_2 generation. Hence, various advanced earthabundantelectrocatalysts have been developed to catalyze those promisinganodic reactions, yet some problems such as tedious preparation andunsatisfactory performance still exist. Given the gap between researchand practical applications, this review summarizes the recent progress inelectrocatalysts for diverse alternative anodic oxidation reactions over thelast five years together with their application in HWE systems. An in-depthunderstanding of different reaction mechanisms and assessments towardelectrocatalysts is discussed to further enhance anodic efficiency. Theadvantages, differences, and critical issues of different HWE systems arethoroughly discussed as well, providing a new avenue for low-voltage H_2production from renewable resources and waste products.