With increasing human population, sustainable energy production has become one of the most persistent and significant problems of the current century. Hydrogen is considered to be the best clean fuel for future energy requirements. As a substitute of fossil fuels, hydrogen is readily provided by an electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction that splits water molecules. Conventional electrocatalysts based on noble metals are scarce and considerably expensive for large-scale hydrogen production, necessitating the search for low-cost earth abundant alternatives. In this context, transition metal nitrides have gained considerable attention as competent electrocatalytic materials for water splitting. This review presents recent advancements and progress on transition metal nitrides as efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen production. After overviewing the fundamental aspects of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the review discusses various synthetic strategies for developing transition metal nitrides. Discussed herein are titanium nitrides, vanadium nitrides, iron nitrides, nickel nitrides, molybdenum nitrides, tungsten nitrides, and their composite electrocatalysts employed in HER applications. Some design viewpoints for improving the electrocatalytic activity are systematically proposed. Finally, the review discusses challenges and future perspectives for the advancement of non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts.

Fundamental aspects and recent advances in transition metal nitrides as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction: A review

One-dimensional anodic titanium oxide (ATO) nanotube arrays hold great potential as photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. In this work, we report a facile and eco-friendly electrochemical hydrogenation method to modify the electronic and PEC properties of ATO nanotube films. The hydrogenated ATO (ATO-H) electrodes present a significantly improved photocurrent of 0.65 mA/cm2 in comparison with that of pristine ATO nanotubes (0.29 mA/cm2) recorded under air mass 1.5 global illumination. The incident photon-to-current efficiency measurement suggests that the enhanced photocurrent of ATO-H nanotubes is mainly ascribed to the improved photoactivity in the UV region. We propose that the electrochemical hydrogenation induced surface oxygen vacancies contribute to the substantially enhanced electrical conductivity and photoactivity.

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Electrochemically hydrogenated TiO 2 nanotubes with improved photoelectrochemical water splitting performance

A new class of cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes supported by various bidentate C-deprotonated (C^N) and cis-chelating bis(N-heterocyclic carbene) (bis-NHC) ligands has been synthesized. These complexes display strong emission in deaerated solutions at room temperature with photoluminescence quantum yields up to 89% and emission lifetimes up to 96 μs. A photo-stable complex containing C-deprotonated fluorenyl-substituted C^N shows no significant decomposition even upon irradiation for over 120 h by blue LEDs (12 W). These, together with the strong absorption in the visible region and rich photo-redox properties, allow the bis-NHC Ir(III) complexes to act as good photo-catalysts for reductive C–C bond formation from C(sp3/sp2)–Br bonds cleavage using visible-light irradiation (λ > 440 nm). A water-soluble complex with a glucose-functionalized bis-NHC ligand catalysed a visible-light-driven radical cyclization for the synthesis of pyrrolidine in aqueous media. Also, the bis-NHC Ir(III) complex in combination with a cobalt catalyst can catalyse the visible-light-driven CO2 reduction with excellent turnover numbers (>2400) and selectivity (CO over H2 in gas phase: >95%). Additionally, this series of bis-NHC Ir(III) complexes are found to localize in and stain endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of various cell lines with high selectivity, and exhibit high cytotoxicity towards cancer cells, revealing their potential uses as bioimaging and/or anti-cancer agents.

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Stable luminescent iridium(III) complexes with bis(N-heterocyclic carbene) ligands: photo-stability, excited state properties, visible-light-driven radical cyclization and CO2 reduction, and cellular imaging

Electrochemical reductive dechlorination of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid using a palladium/nickel foam electrode

http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~yyzhao/Papers/2015_MCP_Surface_area.pdf

Specific surface areas of porous Cu manufactured by Lost Carbonate Sintering: Measurements by quantitative stereology and cyclic voltammetry

Analysis of the diffusion layer thickness, equivalent circuit and conductance behaviour for reversible electron transfer processes in linear sweep voltammetry

Formulation of a simple analytical expression for irreversible electron transfer processes in linear sweep voltammetry and its experimental verification

Solvent effect on the electrochemical reductive cleavage of carbon tetrachloride – a novel example of the deviation from the quadratic activation-driving force relationship

M. Arun Prasad

Papers

Analysis of the diffusion layer thickness, equivalent circuit and conductance behaviour for reversible electron transfer processes in linear sweep voltammetry

Formulation of a simple analytical expression for irreversible electron transfer processes in linear sweep voltammetry and its experimental verification

Solvent effect on the electrochemical reductive cleavage of carbon tetrachloride – a novel example of the deviation from the quadratic activation-driving force relationship

Electrochemical reductive cleavage of carbon–chlorine bond in 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene

Electrochemical reductive cleavage of carbon tetrachloride in aqueous–nonaqueous binary solvents