Recent advances and challenges in single-atom catalysts for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis

Next Materials Pub Date : 2025-02-21 DOI:10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100553

Wei Xia, Jinyang Zhang, Guangyu Xu, Ting Jin, Qinglun Wang, Lifang Jiao

{"title":"Recent advances and challenges in single-atom catalysts for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis","authors":"Wei Xia, Jinyang Zhang, Guangyu Xu, Ting Jin, Qinglun Wang, Lifang Jiao","doi":"10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100553","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hydrogen energy represents a promising alternative to fossil fuels, with the potential to facilitate sustainable development in the future. Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) technology can produce green hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>) at scale and with high purity, offering an environmentally benign solution. However, the advancement of PEMWE is currently restricted by challenges such as the sluggish kinetics of anode materials during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and high cost. Single-atom catalysts (SACs) possess high atomic utilization efficiency of loading metals with high mass activity, making them particularly promising applications in PEMWE. Additionally, the catalytic properties of SACs can be precisely tailored through specific interactions between the support and the active sites. This review elucidates the fundamental principles of OER and PEMWE, highlighting the unique advantages of SACs in the anodic reactions of PEMWE. Subsequently, we summarize recent research advances in the application of SACs within PEMWE and discuss essential characterization techniques for investigating the structure and mechanisms of SACs in OER. Finally, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of this field and outline prospective directions for future development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100958,"journal":{"name":"Next Materials","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100553"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Next Materials","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949822825000711","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Hydrogen energy represents a promising alternative to fossil fuels, with the potential to facilitate sustainable development in the future. Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) technology can produce green hydrogen (H₂) at scale and with high purity, offering an environmentally benign solution. However, the advancement of PEMWE is currently restricted by challenges such as the sluggish kinetics of anode materials during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and high cost. Single-atom catalysts (SACs) possess high atomic utilization efficiency of loading metals with high mass activity, making them particularly promising applications in PEMWE. Additionally, the catalytic properties of SACs can be precisely tailored through specific interactions between the support and the active sites. This review elucidates the fundamental principles of OER and PEMWE, highlighting the unique advantages of SACs in the anodic reactions of PEMWE. Subsequently, we summarize recent research advances in the application of SACs within PEMWE and discuss essential characterization techniques for investigating the structure and mechanisms of SACs in OER. Finally, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of this field and outline prospective directions for future development.

查看原文本刊更多论文

质子交换膜水电解单原子催化剂的研究进展与挑战

氢能是一种很有前途的化石燃料替代品，具有促进未来可持续发展的潜力。质子交换膜水电解（PEMWE）技术可以大规模、高纯度地生产绿色氢（H2），是一种环保的解决方案。然而，PEMWE的发展目前受到诸如阳极材料在析氧反应（OER）过程中动力学缓慢和成本高等挑战的限制。单原子催化剂（SACs）具有较高的原子利用效率，可装载具有高质量活性的金属，在PEMWE中具有广阔的应用前景。此外，SACs的催化性能可以通过载体和活性位点之间的特定相互作用来精确定制。本文综述了OER和PEMWE的基本原理，强调了SACs在PEMWE阳极反应中的独特优势。随后，我们总结了SACs在PEMWE中应用的最新研究进展，并讨论了研究OER中SACs结构和机制的基本表征技术。最后，我们对该领域的现状进行了全面的概述，并对未来的发展方向进行了展望。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Next Materials

自引率

0.00%

发文量