Doping regulation in transition metal compounds for electrocatalysis.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Catalysis
• Surface Chemistry

Background:

• Doping is crucial for tuning catalyst active sites in electrocatalysis.
• Two-dimensional transition-metal compounds (TMCs) show promise for electrocatalytic applications.
• Mechanistic understanding of doping effects in TMCs remains limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive overview of doping regulation in TMCs for electrocatalysis.
• To elucidate the relationship between doping-induced physicochemical property changes and catalytic activity.
• To discuss current challenges and future directions in the field.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of existing literature on doping TMCs.
• Analysis of doping impacts on properties like vacancy concentration, phase, wettability, conductivity, and electronic structure.
• Correlation of property modulation with catalytic performance in various reactions.

Main Results:

• Doping significantly alters TMCs' physicochemical properties, including electronic structure and adsorption characteristics.
• These alterations directly influence catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution, oxygen evolution/reduction, and CO2/N2 reduction reactions.
• Key factors influenced by doping include vacancy concentrations, phase transformation, and electronic band structure.

Conclusions:

• Doping regulation is a powerful strategy for optimizing TMC electrocatalysts.
• Understanding doping mechanisms is key to designing highly efficient catalysts.
• Further research is needed to address existing challenges and unlock future potential.