Overview of Topics in Electrocatalysis for Sustainability: Reactions, Electrocatalysts, Degradation, and Mitigation

TL;DR

This paper reviews electrocatalysis in sustainable energy, focusing on reactions, catalysts, degradation issues, and mitigation strategies to enhance industrial applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of electrocatalytic reactions and catalysts, highlighting degradation mechanisms and potential mitigation approaches for sustainability.

Findings

Electrocatalytic reactions are crucial for renewable energy transition.

Catalyst degradation limits industrial application of electrocatalysis.

Understanding degradation processes can lead to improved catalyst longevity.

Abstract

Electrocatalysis provides an avenue for transitioning the global energy dependence from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. While electrocatalytic reactions are being used for several decades, recently, there is a growing interest for electrocatalytic reactions that are useful from sustainability perspective. The wide industrial applications of these sustainable electrocatalytic processes is largely limited by the degradation of the electrocatalysts. This review begins with an introduction to such reactions, followed by a detailed discussion of the electrocatalysts. Finally we describe the processes that are responsible for the degradation of electrocatalytic activity.