Multi-atom Catalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Electrochemical water splitting plays a crucial role in hydrogen production. Developing efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is essential for advancing the electrolysis water industry. Multi-atom catalysts (MACs), which are composed of three or more atoms elements, have attracted enormous interest, due to their flexible compositional tunability and synergistic effects between multiple atoms. In this chapter, a systematical review was conducted on the research progress of MACs as efficient HER electrocatalysts. First, the scope and significance of MACs was defined. Then, three typical MACs for HER, including multi-atom alloys, multi-atom compounds, and multi-atom composites, were briefly discussed, in which the underlying mechanisms of the improved HER activities of these MACs were stressed. Through the analysis of the challenges and prospects, it is expected that these research advances could bring about some new insights on the MACs in catalytic performance enhancement and clean energy technology innovation, and this could offer some inspiration on the rational design of the MACs in energy electrocatalysis fields.