Chem. J. Chinese Universities ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5): 20220051.doi: 10.7503/cjcu20220051

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Self-supported Film Electrodes Decorated with Single Atoms for Energy Electrocatalysis

WU Jun, HE Guanchao, FEI Huilong()   

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics,Hunan University,Changsha 410082,China
  • Received:2022-01-23 Online:2022-05-10 Published:2022-03-03
  • Contact: FEI Huilong E-mail:hlfei@hnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China(51902099)

Abstract:

Single-atom catalysts(SACs) have been widely studied in energy electrocatalysis due to their high catalytic activity, excellent selectivity and maximized atom utilization efficiency. However, the powdery SACs were mostly evaluated at small current densities(typically<100 mA/cm2) with low electrode loading(typically<1.0 mg/cm2) due to the complex preparation process of the working electrode, the addition of polymeric binder that would decrease the electrical conductivity and bury the active sites. In contrast, self-supported single-atom film electrodes not only possess the merits of SACs, but also have the advantages of monolithic structure, such as the omission of polymeric and conductive additives, improved electrical conductivity, enhanced exposure of single-atom sites and adjustable morphology and porosity, making them highly promising to be applied in high-current-density catalytic reactions and high-energy/power-density batteries. In this review, the recent advances of self-supported film-based SACs in energy electrocatalysis are presented. Firstly, the advantages of self-supported film-based SACs are discussed. Sub- sequently, their synthetic approaches are summarized, including in situ preparation on a self-supported substrate, electrostatic spinning, self-assembly, chemical vapor deposition and solid phase diffusion. Then, the applications of self-supported film-based SACs in various energy-related electrocatalytic processes are introduced, including hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, H2O2 electrosynthesis, zinc-air batteries, carbon dioxide reduction reaction and lithium sulfur batteries. Finally, the development direction of self-supported film-based SACs is prospected.

Key words: Self-supported electrode, Single-atom catalyst, Energy electrocatalysis

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