Research Progress of Rare Earth Based Low-temperature Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Energy

Hydrogen energy is a strategic emerging industry and the key development direction of the future industry, and is one of the important directions of China's new quality productive forces. Hydrogen evolution, oxygen evolution and oxygen reduction reactions are important electrochemical processes in the preparation and utilization of hydrogen energy, low-cost, highly efficient, environmentally friendly and stable electrocatalysts are the key to economically drive the aforesaid electrochemical reactions. RE elements have unique electronic structures and low electronegativity, which can serve as active sites for electrocatalytic reactions, more importantly, they can act as additives to regulate the electronic properties of active sites, significantly affecting the reaction energy barrier and adsorption energy of reactants, thereby achieving the improvement of electrocatalytic performance. This article mainly introduces the research progress of RE-based low-temperature electrocatalysts in hydrogen energy related electrocatalytic reactions, and also summarizes the mechanisms of the above three reactions as well as the synthesis methods of RE-based catalysts. Therefore, this review has certain guiding significance for the comprehensive utilization of RE elements and further exploration and research of RE-based electrocatalysts.