Muhammad Yasir , Zhiliang Zhao , Hasuck Kim , Xinyi Zhang
{"title":"Recent progress and prospects in single-atom catalyst-based electrochemical synthesis of ammonia","authors":"Muhammad Yasir , Zhiliang Zhao , Hasuck Kim , Xinyi Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101708","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101708","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Single-atom catalysts (SACs), with atomically distributed metal centers, high activity and maximized atom utilization efficiency, have attracted great attention in catalysis. Great efforts have been made on the development of new strategies for the synthesis of single-atom catalysts. In the design of SACs, substrates are materials that host the single atoms, providing a stable and accessible surface for catalytic reactions. The interaction between the single metal atoms and the substrate (carrier or support) is critical as it determines the stability and activity of the catalyst. Unraveling the substrate adsorption structure–performance relationship is pivotal for supported metal single-atom catalysts. On the other hand, the catalytic performance largely depends on the interaction among single atoms. In this review, we summarize in SACs-based electrochemical synthesis of ammonia. The reaction mechanism of these single-atom catalysts and their applications are discussed and assessed. Finally, the perspectives of SACs for future applications are previewed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101708"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144223639","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":"The role of anions and additives in electrochemical CO2 reduction","authors":"Katharina Trapp, Jimun Yoo , Maria R. Lukatskaya","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101707","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101707","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The electrochemical reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> (eCO<sub>2</sub>R) is governed by complex interactions at the electrode-electrolyte interface. Recent studies show that electrolyte species in the electrical double layer can strongly affect the CO<sub>2</sub> reduction activity and selectivity. While the role of cations in eCO<sub>2</sub>R is relatively well understood, recent studies show that anions and molecular additives can be equally influential. Here, we discuss how these species can facilitate eCO<sub>2</sub>R intermediate stabilization and suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction, enhancing the activity and selectivity of eCO<sub>2</sub>R.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101707"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144184318","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":"Plastic waste upcycling through electrocatalysis","authors":"Yuan Ji, Chunxiao Liu, Tingting Zheng, Chuan Xia","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101712","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101712","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The widespread use and chemical durability of plastics have contributed to the escalating issue of white pollution. Among various mitigation strategies, recycling waste plastics stands out as one of the most effective and sustainable solutions. Electrochemical methods, featuring mild operating conditions, tunable reaction selectivity, and low carbon emissions, have emerged as promising approaches for plastic recycling. This mini review offers a concise summary of recent advances in the electrocatalytic conversion of plastic waste. We highlight key strategies that involve the selective electrooxidation of monomers derived from plastic hydrolysis, the coupling of anodic and cathodic reactions to increase energy efficiency, and the incorporation of heteroatoms to expand the functionality of target products. We conclude by discussing emerging approaches for non-hydrolyzable plastics and the integration of electrocatalysis with complementary methods for broader applicability and scalable circular recycling.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101712"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144314300","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":"Harnessing instrumentation and artificial intelligence for new insights and applications in single-entity electrochemistry","authors":"Gabriel Gemadzie , Peter McPike , Aliaksei Boika","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101724","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101724","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The field of single-entity electrochemistry (SEE) has rapidly evolved, driven by innovative advancements in instrumentation, sophisticated data analysis powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and an expanding range of applications across multiple disciplines. This review highlights significant recent progress in instrument developments that enhance the spatial and temporal resolution of SEE measurements, as well as data analysis employing AI methodologies to improve the processing, interpretation, and accuracy of complex electrochemical datasets. Additionally, we provide an overview of impactful recent applications of SEE in energy storage, catalysis, environmental monitoring, and biosensing, demonstrating the critical importance and transformative potential of single-entity measurements. By integrating advanced instrumentation with powerful data analytical frameworks, SEE continues to reveal unique insights at the nanoscale, bridging fundamental electrochemical research and practical applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101724"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144572698","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":"The role of interfacial water in promoting C–C coupling during CO2 electroreduction","authors":"Anthony Shoji Hall , David Raciti","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101722","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101722","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The electrochemical reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) into hydrocarbons and oxygenates presents a promising pathway toward a carbon-neutral energy cycle, but achieving selective product formation remains a challenge. While extensive efforts have focused on catalyst design and electrolyte composition, the role of the interfacial water properties, an often-overlooked parameter, has only recently come under investigation. Water serves as the primary proton donor (in aqueous electrolytes) in the absence of hydronium, which can influence the competition between CO<sub>2</sub>RR and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Despite studies dating back to the 1980s demonstrating that electrolyte composition significantly impacts CO<sub>2</sub>RR performance, the effects of the electrolyte composition on the interfacial water properties have remained largely unexplored. Recent findings suggest that tuning the interfacial water properties can influence C–C coupling by altering solvation environments and stabilize reaction intermediates. This perspective explores how tuning the interfacial water properties improves C–C coupling, providing a new strategy for improving catalysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101722"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144614293","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":"Corrigendum to “Application of pulsed electrolysis in organic electrosynthesis” [Curr Opin Electrochem 44 (2024) 101441]","authors":"Alexander P. Atkins, Alastair J.J. Lennox","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101709","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101709","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101709"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144205797","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":"Detection and remediation of harmful algal blooms: Opportunities for electrochemists?","authors":"William S. Atkinson , Cleya Saju , Jake M. Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101711","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101711","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Larger and more frequent recurrences of harmful algal blooms (HABs) are becoming an urgent challenge globally with potentially deadly and economically devastating consequences. HAB monitoring and remediation is a multidisciplinary field which would benefit from inputs from electrochemists. Phytoplankton cells naturally contain various biomarkers such as species-specific DNAs, toxins, and chlorophyll pigments which can be strategically targeted via electrochemistry, either directly or indirectly, for sensing purposes. In this review, we discuss recent electrochemical advances that enable early HAB warning systems with the inclusion of AI to be developed as well as the separation of algae from water via electrocoagulation methods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101711"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144296941","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}
Seiti Inoue Venturini, Manuel J.S. Farias, Germano Tremiliosi-Filho
{"title":"Feasibility of the hydrogen production by assistance of ethanol: A critical perspective","authors":"Seiti Inoue Venturini, Manuel J.S. Farias, Germano Tremiliosi-Filho","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101723","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101723","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Traditional electrolytic water splitting is one of the usual ways to produce molecular hydrogen. However, the specific slow kinetics of the complementary anodic molecular oxygen generation harm the efficiency of hydrogen evolution. One of the ways to get around this problem is to replace the slow oxygen reaction by another anodic reaction, with higher faradaic efficiency, such as those involving biomass derivatives, especially the ethanol, setting up the electrochemical ethanol reformer. Thus, in this work is made a critical review of recent researchers regarding the development of catalytic materials for both, hydrogen reaction and ethanol oxidation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101723"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144580906","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":"Measuring the flatband potential in 2D semiconductors: Pitfalls and a possible SECCM solution","authors":"Ava R. Chard, Justin B. Sambur","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101703","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101703","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The flatband potential (<em>V</em><sub>fb</sub>) is a critical parameter in semiconductor electrochemistry, defining the potential at which no excess charge exists at the semiconductor/electrolyte interface. It serves as a key reference for interpreting charge transfer kinetics and current–voltage behavior. However, conventional methods like Mott–Schottky analysis fail for atomically thin 2D materials due to the breakdown of the depletion approximation. This perspective examines the limitations of traditional <em>V</em><sub>fb</sub> measurements for 2D semiconductors and the experimental challenges that arise. To address these issues, we propose using scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM) to spatially resolve the potential of zero charge (<em>V</em><sub>pzc</sub>), equivalent to <em>V</em><sub>fb</sub>. This approach mitigates sample heterogeneity issues, such as pinholes or multilayer defects, and offers a pathway to more accurate electrochemical characterization. Ultimately, this method will enhance understanding of current–potential behavior in 2D materials, supporting the design of advanced systems for photoelectrocatalysis, energy conversion, and sensing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101703"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144083872","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":"Enhanced stability of monolayers for quantum transport applications","authors":"Gyu Don Kong, Xin He, Peng He, Hyo Jae Yoon","doi":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101706","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coelec.2025.101706","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent advances in self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) have overcome longstanding stability challenges, unlocking new opportunities for molecular-scale devices in quantum transport applications. This review highlights key developments focused on enhancing the electrical and thermal robustness of SAMs. The Repeated Surface Exchange of Molecules (ReSEM) method significantly improves breakdown voltages by mixing two molecular species to reduce packing defects and nanoscale pinholes, enabling access to deeper molecular orbital energy levels. Additionally, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) anchor groups deliver exceptional thermal stability, sustaining consistent thermoelectric performance at temperatures up to 573 K. These breakthroughs expand the functional versatility of SAM-based molecular junctions, paving the way for their integration into practical electronic, thermoelectric, and sensing technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11028,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Electrochemistry","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 101706"},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144134566","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}