{"title":"Recent progress in mechanistic insights into cation effects on electrochemical CO2 reduction reactions","authors":"Xueping Qin, Renata Sechi, Heine Anton Hansen","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101614","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101614","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The impact of cations in the local reaction environment has garnered attention as a crucial factor in tailoring the selectivity of CO<sub>2</sub> reduction, although the mechanism remains under debate. Understanding these cation effects through first-principles computations can facilitate the design of efficient reaction networks and gas diffusion layers in electrolyzers. In this minireview, the latest insights into cation effects on CO<sub>2</sub> reduction reactions are presented, covering aspects such as tuning the interfacial electric field, coordinating reaction intermediates, altering the interfacial water structure, and modulating local CO<sub>2</sub> concentration and pH. Future research directions in this area are also discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101614"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143102846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Haiyan Xiang , Jan E. Lopez , Travis Hu , Song Liu
{"title":"Investigating on-chip micro- and nanodevices for engineering electrocatalysis","authors":"Haiyan Xiang , Jan E. Lopez , Travis Hu , Song Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101610","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101610","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In order to fully utilize high-performance catalysts, thorough electrochemical research is urgently needed to obtain accurate and multi-dimensional information about electrochemical interfaces. However, traditional electrochemical methods, such Q5 as in situ dynamic monitoring, external field regulation, and single-entity electrocatalytic detection, still offer opportunities for further exploration. Notably, inspired by the recent success in nanoelectronic semiconductor devices, the emerging field of on-chip electrocatalytic microdevices has emerged as a powerful alternative platform to traditional techniques. This unique device configuration offers several advantages, including in situ electronic/electrochemical measurements and adjustable microstructure of individual catalysts, which is constantly expanded to probe electrochemical processes and obtain previously inaccessible information. This review covers recently published work on a range of electrochemical reactions, including hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), water splitting, carbon dioxide reduction (CO2RR), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and other electrochemical reactions. Finally, the review also presents some personal perspectives on the challenges in this promising area.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101610"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143098632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hemanth S. Pillai, Hendrik H. Heenen, Karsten Reuter, Vanessa J. Bukas
{"title":"Bridging the scales within transport-coupled kinetic models for heterogeneous electrocatalysis","authors":"Hemanth S. Pillai, Hendrik H. Heenen, Karsten Reuter, Vanessa J. Bukas","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101631","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101631","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Optimizing reaction rates in heterogeneous electrocatalysis requires a solid, fundamental understanding of the interplay between mass transport and the intrinsic reaction kinetics at the electrode surface. As these processes occur on disparate scales, however, bridging the two into a (single) comprehensive reaction model is a challenging task and active area of research. In this perspective, we give a current overview of transport-coupled kinetic models while making a distinction between those that describe the surface reaction <em>via</em> an effective phenomenological or first-principle-based kinetic model. This choice tends to be accompanied by a correspondingly more or less elaborate inclusion of mass transport. The two modeling approaches thus generally differ in the scientific questions that they aim to answer; whether focusing on elaborate transport effects and resulting design rules at the device level or more detailed mechanistic insight on a microscopic scale. We first discuss these approaches separately, including their pros and cons through notable studies in the existing literature and conclude with an outlook view on combining the value of both in future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101631"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143102848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Wireless electroorganic synthesis","authors":"Gerardo Salinas, Alexander Kuhn","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101612","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101612","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Electroorganic synthesis is currently experiencing a renaissance due to the possible use of electricity as a rather green and sustainable reactant. Although extensive research has been carried out in this field, organic electrosynthesis suffers from certain limitations, such as rate-limiting mass transport, complicated supporting electrolyte removal and uneven heat transfer. Recently the concepts of endogenous (thermodynamically spontaneous) and exogenous (externally-driven) bipolar electrochemistry have been explored, in order to develop novel and straightforward electroorganic synthesis processes. This short review aims to highlight the current developments of endogenous and exogenous bipolar electrochemistry in the field of organic electrosynthesis and to discuss the advantages of these wireless approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101612"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143102849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Recent advances in Tetraphenylethylene-based aggregation-induced electrochemiluminescence for biosensing applications","authors":"Zhiyong Dong , Fangxin Du , Wei Zhang , Yu Tian , Guobao Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101627","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101627","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tetraphenylethylene (TPE), a prominent aggregation-induced emission (AIE) emitter, has gained significant attention in the development of electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensors due to its unique luminescent properties. The combination of AIE and ECL improves the ECL intensity and efficiency, making TPE-based systems ideal for high-sensitivity AIECL biosensing applications. This review discusses recent advances in TPE and its derivatives based small molecular materials (e.g., nanoaggregates, organic dots, silica and vesicles confined TPE-based materials) and polymers (e.g., polymer dots, metal–organic frameworks and covalent organic frameworks) for biological applications. The AIECL principles of TPE-based materials are explored, which are mainly through molecular aggregation, spatial confinement and rigid structure to restrict the motions of TPE and reduce non-radiative transitions to realize high ECL emission. Finally, current challenges are addressed, along with perspectives on future directions to improve the performance and expand the applicability of TPE-based AIECL platforms in bioanalysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101627"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143102851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Electrocatalytic upgrading of furan derivatives","authors":"Anousha Sohail, Chularat Wattanakit","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101628","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101628","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rising concerns over fossil fuel reliance have driven the development of biomass-derived chemical production. Transforming hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural, key platform compounds, into sustainable chemicals enhances the biomass value chain. Electrosynthesis emerges as a green and efficient approach to upgrading furan derivatives into biofuels, biopolymers, and industrial chemicals. This minireview discusses advancements in electrocatalytic upgrading of furan derivatives, particularly featuring biorefinery with hydrogen production for cost-efficient and sustainable processes. Importantly, this minireview also highlights the current advancement in electrocatalyst design and addresses the challenges of improving electrocatalytic efficiency in terms of enhanced product selectivity, Faradaic efficiency (FE), and overall process sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101628"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143164165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dipam Manish Patel, Anjana Tripathi, Vivianne Karina Ocampo-Restrepo, Georg Kastlunger
{"title":"Electrocatalysis beyond the reversible hydrogen electrode","authors":"Dipam Manish Patel, Anjana Tripathi, Vivianne Karina Ocampo-Restrepo, Georg Kastlunger","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101611","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101611","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The reversible and computational hydrogen electrodes have proven invaluable as reference electrodes in aqueous electrocatalysis, allowing an evaluation of the combined chemical potential of the proton–electron pair in experiments and computations. By construction, they cancel the pH dependence in most capacitive processes. However, for electrocatalysis, which is dominated by faradaic processes, this characteristic is rarely observed.</div><div>In this short review, we discuss the origins of deviations from the Nernstian behavior in capacitive and faradaic processes, their manifestation in experimental observables, and attempts to incorporate them in simulations. On this basis, we discuss how deviations from Nernstian behavior can be exploited in mechanistic analysis and highlight the use of electrostatic descriptors in computational screening to account for non-Nernstian effects explicitly.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101611"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143102844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Electronic structure methods for simulating the applied potential in semiconductor electrochemistry","authors":"Kayvan Moradi, Marko M. Melander","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101615","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101615","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Semiconductor electrodes (SCEs) play a decisive role in clean energy conversion technologies but understanding their complex electrochemistry remains an outstanding challenge. Herein, we review electronic structure methods for describing the applied electrode potential in simulations of semiconductor–electrolyte interfaces. We emphasize that inclusion of the electrode potential is significantly more challenging for SCEs than for metallic electrodes because SCEs require accurate models of semiconductor capacitance, including the space-charge region and surface effects, as well as the electrolyte double-layer capacitance. We discuss how these physicochemical complications challenge the development of atomistic models of SCE and how they impact the applicability of the computational hydrogen electrode, capacitance correction, grand canonical DFT, and Green function methods to model SCEs. We highlight the need for continued methodological development and conclude that integrating advanced atomistic models of SCEs with grand canonical, constant inner potential DFT or Green function methods holds promise for accurate SCE simulations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101615"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143102845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interplay between molecular electrochemistry and light in mechanistic investigations","authors":"Eric Labbé, Olivier Buriez","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101613","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101613","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The introduction of light absorption steps in organic and organometallic synthetic processes has enlarged the scope of accessible intermediates, featuring photoexcited species with both strong reducing and oxidizing properties. Nowadays, two approaches use the absorption of visible light to carry out new organic reactions, namely photoredox catalysis and electrophotocatalysis. The intent of this review is to show how molecular electrochemistry can be a powerful analytical technique for obtaining thermodynamic and kinetic information in these new light-integrated reactions, and also constitute a complementary approach to photochemical investigations. The development of reactions involving a photoactivation step should strengthen the links between the photochemical and electrochemical communities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101613"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143102850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yaovi Holade , Teko W. Napporn , Kouakou Boniface Kokoh
{"title":"Electrocatalysis of organics for electrolysis and/or fuel cells: Some thoughts on using the ratio of forward to backward peak current as a measure of electrocatalyst efficiency and/or poisoning","authors":"Yaovi Holade , Teko W. Napporn , Kouakou Boniface Kokoh","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101625","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2024.101625","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the current context of sustainability, the selective electrocatalytic transformation of biomass-derived organic substances into value-added products should offer vast design possibilities for power generation or the electrosynthesis of fuels and commodity chemicals. In this contribution, we have examined a number of concepts concerning the electrocatalysis of organic molecules for which noble metals cannot be excluded from the electrocatalyst composition without compromising the significant energy savings promised in electrolyzers (up to 50 % for H<sub>2</sub> co-production compared with conventional water electrolysis). The widespread practice of using the ratio of forward peak current to backward peak current as a measure of activity, anti-poison capacity or removal of adsorbed poisons or intermediates is unsuitable based on voltammetry and spectroelectrochemical analysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"49 ","pages":"Article 101625"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143102999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}