Oxygen Electrocatalysis for Fuel Cells, Air Batteries, and Hydrogen Peroxide Synthesis

Oxygen Electrocatalysis for Fuel Cells, Air Batteries, and Hydrogen Peroxide Synthesis

This research community develops electrocatalysts and photocatalysts to accelerate the reduction and evolution of oxygen, primarily for use in fuel cells, rechargeable zinc-air batteries, and the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide.

The work centers on designing materials that facilitate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Recurring materials include nitrogen-doped porous carbons, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, and single-atom sites of transition metals such as iron, cobalt, and nickel. These catalysts are engineered for bifunctional activity, serving both as reduction and evolution sites in rechargeable systems. Applications span proton exchange membrane fuel cells, microbial fuel cells, and zinc-air batteries. A significant strand of research focuses on the photocatalytic or electrocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxide from water and air, utilizing covalent organic frameworks and metal-organic structures to achieve high selectivity and efficiency.

The community represents 19.9% of all tracked oxygen research, comprising 6,285 papers, and 12.1% of platinum research, comprising 3,142 papers. It also accounts for 4.1% of zinc research, with 3,547 papers.

There are 24,927 papers in this community, published most frequently in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Electrochimica Acta, and Journal of Power Sources.

Recent work continues to focus on optimizing single-atom catalysts and covalent organic frameworks for hydrogen peroxide photosynthesis and enhancing the durability of iron-nitrogen-carbon catalysts for fuel cells.

Papers behind this description

• Linkage-engineered donor–acceptor covalent organic frameworks for optimal photosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide from water and air — Nature Catalysis, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41929-023-01102-3
• Developing Ni single-atom sites in carbon nitride for efficient photocatalytic H2O2 production — Nature Communications, 2023 — doi:10.1038/s41467-023-42887-y
• Acidic oxygen reduction by single-atom Fe catalysts on curved supports — Nature, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09364-6
• Tailoring Oxygen Reduction Reaction Kinetics of Fe−N−C Catalyst via Spin Manipulation for Efficient Zinc–Air Batteries — Advanced Materials, 2024 — doi:10.1002/adma.202400523
• A Janus dual-atom catalyst for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction and evolution — Nature Synthesis, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s44160-024-00545-1
• Tuning the thermal activation atmosphere breaks the activity–stability trade-off of Fe–N–C oxygen reduction fuel cell catalysts — Nature Catalysis, 2023 — doi:10.1038/s41929-023-01062-8
• Enhancing photocatalytic H2O2 production with Au co-catalysts through electronic structure modification — Nature Communications, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47624-7
• Single Atom Catalysts Based on Earth-Abundant Metals for Energy-Related Applications — Chemical Reviews, 2024 — doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.4c00155
• Dual donor-acceptor covalent organic frameworks for hydrogen peroxide photosynthesis — Nature Communications, 2023 — doi:10.1038/s41467-023-40991-7
• A Review of Rechargeable Zinc–Air Batteries: Recent Progress and Future Perspectives — Nano-Micro Letters, 2024 — doi:10.1007/s40820-024-01328-1
• Boosting Oxygen Electrocatalytic Activity of Fe–N–C Catalysts by Phosphorus Incorporation — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023 — doi:10.1021/jacs.2c12933
• Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Production: Advances, Challenges, and Future Perspectives — The Chemical Record, 2025 — doi:10.1002/tcr.202500066
• Defect-modulated oxygen adsorption and Z-scheme charge transfer for highly selective H2O2 photosynthesis in pure water — Nature Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41467-025-64166-8
• Co-based bifunctional OER/ORR Electrocatalysts: From nanostructure engineering to catalytic mechanism innovation for cutting-edge research in empowering energy conversion systems — Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2025.217393
• Dual-template synthesis of CoNi alloy nanoparticles anchored on N-doped carbon nanotubes for efficient oxygen reduction reaction — International Journal of Minerals Metallurgy and Materials, 2025 — doi:10.1007/s12613-025-3190-y
• Squaric acid-based zwitterionic covalent organic framework induces triple synergy for boosted hydrogen peroxide photosynthesis — Nature Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41467-025-63997-9
• High-entropy intermetallic/N-doped carbon nanocages with abundant fine carbon nanotubes for greatly enhancing oxygen reduction in zinc-air battery — Journal of Energy Storage, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.est.2025.119432
• Breaking the symmetry of high-entropy alloy surfaces for compressively strain-tuned oxygen reduction reaction — Nature Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41467-025-65856-z