Recent advances in surface reconstruction toward self-adaptive electrocatalysis: a review

Abstract

Electrochemical technologies coupled with renewable electricity for the electro-conversion of small molecules have provided a sustainable approach to address the existing energy and environmental challenges. The development of electro-conversion technologies is hindered by the insufficient long-term catalyst stability, which is more important than activity for industrializing electrolysis. Sustainable electrocatalysis cannot be easily achieved using conventional research routes that focus only on catalyst design for enhancing the stability, because the attenuation of catalysts is typically an inevitable one-way evolution process. Nonetheless, some recent advances related to surface reconstruction of inorganic materials have demonstrated short-term performance enhancement during electrocatalysis, indicating the phenomena of recovering the structure/component and activity regeneration. It suggests the feasibility of coupling inorganic synthesis in electrocatalysis processes toward applying self-adaptive electrocatalysis for long-term operation of catalysts. In this review, we systematically study the origin, types, and basic principles of surface reconstruction for self-adaptive electrocatalysis and review recent advances, including electrochemical activation and self-optimizing processes. Subsequently, we highlight the construction of self-adaptive electrocatalysis cycles for sustainable electrocatalysis. Finally, we present the challenges and prospects of developing a durable electrocatalytic system via self-adaptive electrocatalysis processes.