Microchemical Engineering in a 3D Ordered Channel Enhances Electrocatalysis.

The kinetics of electrode reactions including mass transfer and surface reaction is essential in electrocatalysis, as it strongly determines the apparent reaction rates, especially on nanostructured electrocatalysts. However, important challenges still remain in optimizing the kinetics of given catalysts with suitable constituents, morphology, and crystalline design to maximize the electrocatalytic performances. We propose a comprehensive kinetic model coupling mass transfer and surface reaction on the nanocatalyst-modified electrode surface to explore and shed light on the kinetic optimization in electrocatalysis.

Ordered Nanostructure Enhances Electrocatalytic Performance by Directional Micro-Electric Field.

Designing high-efficiency catalyst is at the heart of a transition to future renewable energy systems. Great achievements have been made to optimize thermodynamics to reduce energetic barriers of the catalytic reactions. However, little attention has been paid to design catalysts to improve kinetics to enrich the local concentration of reactant molecules surrounding electrocatalysts.