Progress in the Application of Electrocatalysts

With the increasing demand for energy and the non renewability of fossil fuels, renewable clean energy is favored by people, among which hydrogen energy has attracted much attention due to its high energy density and abundant raw materials. Electrolysis of water for hydrogen production is an important method for the preparation of hydrogen energy, consisting of OER and HER reactions. However, due to its limited reaction rate, efficient catalysts are required to accelerate the reaction process. Common precious metal catalysts such as Pt based and Ir based catalysts have high activity, good stability, but high cost. Non precious metal catalysts are inexpensive and have abundant reserves, but their stability and performance are slightly inferior to precious metal catalysts. This article starts from the mechanism and introduces the reaction steps and principles of OER and HER. It focuses on the research and development progress of precious metal catalysts and non precious metal catalysts in recent years. By analyzing the recent catalyst improvement methods, it summarizes the common catalyst optimization ideas and makes prospects for the future development direction of catalysts.