Nanocatalysts for Water Splitting

Developing a clean and sustainable energy system is essential for the earth's sustainability. The hydrogen/water energy cycle, a clean and sustainable system, receives of great interest recently. Water splitting is one of the key reactions in the hydrogen/water energy cycle. Developing active and cost-effective nanocatalysts for water splitting is important to water splitting for the production of clean H₂ energy sources. This work will present various nanocatalysts for solar-driven and electric-driven water splitting reactions, especially for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The co-catalysts decorated Cu₂O/CuO photocathodes and MO/M heterostructured electrocatalysts were prepared by various interfacial engineering techniques. Combining advanced characterization and DFT computational techniques is capable of providing the insight of the heterostructured nanocatalysts for HER. It was found that the heterostructured interface plays a vital role and provides a highly active catalyst for HER. The design strategy for the HER catalysts can be developed via the understanding of the interfacial properties and reactions.