Recent Progress in Engineering the Atomic and Electronic Structure of Electrocatalysts via Cation Exchange Reactions

In the past few decades, tremendous advances have been made in electrocatalysis due to the rational design of electrocatalysts at the nanoscale level. Further development requires engineering electrocatalysts at the atomic level, which is a grand challenge. Here, the recent advances in cation exchange strategy, which is a powerful tool for fine-tuning atomic structure of electrocatalysts via surface faceting, heteroatom doping, defects formation, and strain modulation, are the main focus. Proper atomic structure engineering effectively adjusts the electronic structure, and thus enhances the electronic conductivity and facilitates the adsorption/desorption of reaction intermediates. By virtue, the cation exchange strategy greatly boosts the intrinsic and apparent activities of electrocatalysts and shows a great potential toward design of new energy conversion devices, such as water splitting devices and metal-air batteries. It is believed that cation exchange offers new insights and opportunities for the rational design of a new generation of electrocatalysts.