Electrocatalytic Water Splitting for Hydrogen and Oxygen Production
This community develops catalysts and electrochemical systems that split water into hydrogen and oxygen, primarily using alkaline electrolysis to produce green hydrogen fuel.
The work centers on designing electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with a strong focus on bifunctional materials that perform both half-reactions. Recurring material systems include nickel-iron layered double hydroxides, transition metal phosphides, and metal-organic frameworks, often engineered with defects or heterostructures to enhance activity. The research addresses both pure water and seawater electrolysis, aiming to achieve high current densities and long-term stability. Key methods involve surface engineering, doping, and the creation of heterojunctions to lower reaction overpotentials. The goal is to create efficient, durable, and cost-effective catalysts that can operate under alkaline conditions, which are preferred for industrial-scale hydrogen production due to the abundance and low cost of alkaline electrolytes.
The largest share of the community's output is found in hydrogen research, accounting for 4.0% of all hydrogen-related papers tracked, with 23,208 papers in this group. Oxygen research follows with a 3.0% share (16,660 papers), and nickel research contributes 3.5% (7,154 papers).
The community comprises 41,298 papers, publishing most frequently in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, and Journal of Alloys and Compounds.
Recent papers continue to focus on optimizing catalyst stability and efficiency, with specific attention to seawater electrolysis, lattice oxygen mechanisms, and the use of anion exchange membranes. New work explores defect-interface coupling, single-atom doping, and the electronic modulation of nickel-iron and ruthenium-based systems to maintain high performance at industrial current densities.