The oxygen evolution reaction is a key reaction in water splitting. The common approach in the development of oxygen evolution catalysts is to search for catalytic materials with new and optimized chemical compositions and structures. Here we report an orthogonal approach to improve the activity of catalysts without alternating their compositions or structures. Specifically, liquid phase exfoliation is applied to enhance the oxygen evolution activity of layered double hydroxides. The exfoliated single-layer nanosheets exhibit significantly higher oxygen evolution activity than the corresponding bulk layered double hydroxides in alkaline conditions. The nanosheets from nickel iron and nickel cobalt layered double hydroxides outperform a commercial iridium dioxide catalyst in both activity and stability. The exfoliation creates more active sites and improves the electronic conductivity. This work demonstrates the promising catalytic activity of single-layered double hydroxides for the oxygen evolution reaction.

Progress in catalysis is driven by society's needs. The development of new electrocatalysts to make renewable and clean fuels from abundant and easily accessible resources is among the most challenging and demanding tasks for today's scientist and engineers. The electrochemical splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen has been known for over 200 years, but in the last decade and motivated by the perspective of solar hydrogen production, new catalysts made of earth-abundant materials have emerged. Here we present an overview of recent developments of the non-noble metal catalysts for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Emphasis is given to the nanostructuring of industrially relevant hydrotreating catalysts as potential HER electrocatalysts. The new syntheses and nanostructuring approaches might pave the way to future developments of highly efficient catalysts for energy conversion.

Amorphous molybdenum sulfide films are efficient hydrogen evolution catalysts in water. The films are prepared via simple electro-polymerization procedures and are characterized by XPS, electron microscopy and electronic absorption spectroscopy. Whereas the precatalysts could be MoS 3 or MoS 2 , the active form of the catalysts is identified as amorphous MoS 2 . Significant geometric current densities are achieved at low overpotentials (e.g., 15 mA cm À2 at h ¼ 200 mV) using these catalysts. The catalysis is compatible with a wide range of pHs (e.g., 0 to 13). The current efficiency for hydrogen production is quantitative. A 40 mV Tafel slope is observed, suggesting a rate-determining ion+atom step. The turnover frequency per active site is calculated. The amorphous molybdenum sulfide films are among the most active non-precious hydrogen evolution catalysts.

Ni2P is a bifunctional catalyst for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions.

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