Regulation of Electrocatalytic Activity by Local Microstructure: Focusing on the Catalytic Active Zone

• Published in: Chemistry : a European journal Vol. 28; no. 8; pp. e202103141 - n/a
• Main Authors: Bian, Juanjuan, Wei, Chenyang, Wen, Yunzhou, Zhang, Bo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 07.02.2022
• Subjects: active zone; Carbon dioxide; Catalysis; Catalytic activity; Catalytic Domain; Chemistry; Electrocatalysts; electrocatalytic reactions; Electrochemistry; in situ characterization; local microstructure; Microstructure; Oxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxygen; Oxygen evolution reactions; Urea; electrocatalytic reactions; electrocatalysts; in situ characterization; local microstructure; active zone
• ISSN: 0947-6539; 1521-3765
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.202103141

Traditional regulation methods of active sites have successfully optimized the performance of electrocatalysts, but seem unable to achieve further breakthrough in the catalytic activity. Unlike the conventional viewpoint of focusing on single active site, the concept of local microstructure active zone is more comprehensive and new methods to regulate the reaction zone for electrocatalytic reactions are developed accordingly. The local microstructure active zone refers to the zone with high catalytic activity formed by the interaction between active atoms and neighboring coordination atoms as well as the surrounding environment. Instead of the traditional single active atom site, the active zone is more suitable for the actual electrochemical reaction process. According to this concept, the activity of electrocatalysts can be coordinated by multiple active atoms. This strategy is beneficial for understanding the relationship between material, structure, and catalysis, which realizes the design and synthesis of high‐performance electrocatalysts. This review provides the research progress of this strategy for electrocatalytic reactions, with emphasis on their applications in oxygen evolution reaction, urea oxidation reaction, and carbon dioxide reduction. Tailored catalysts: Traditional design methods of catalytic active sites have successfully optimized the performance of electrocatalysts, but seem unable to achieve further breakthrough in catalytic activity. The concept of local microstructure active zone is more comprehensive and helps develop new methodologies to control the reaction zone for electrocatalytic reactions. This review provides the research progress of this strategy in electrocatalytic reactions, with the emphasis on their important applications in oxygen evolution reaction (OER), urea oxidation reaction (UOR), and carbon dioxide reduction (CO2RR).