Iron Sulfide Materials: Catalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

The chemical challenge of economically splitting water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen requires continuous development of more efficient, less-toxic, and cheaper catalyst materials. This review article highlights the potential of iron sulfide-based nanomaterials as electrocatalysts for water-splitting and predominantly as catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Besides new synthetic techniques leading to phase-pure iron sulfide nano objects and thin-films, the article reviews three new material classes: (a) FeS2-TiO2 hybrid structures; (b) iron sulfide-2D carbon support composites; and (c) metal-doped (e.g., cobalt and nickel) iron sulfide materials. In recent years, immense progress has been made in the development of these materials, which exhibit enormous potential as hydrogen evolution catalysts and may represent a genuine alternative to more traditional, noble metal-based catalysts. First developments in this comparably new research area are summarized in this article and discussed together with theoretical studies on hydrogen evolution reactions involving iron sulfide electrocatalysts.

Nano-synthesis of solid acid catalysts from waste-iron-filling for biodiesel production using high free fatty acid waste cooking oil

“…The catalytic activity of any solid catalyst has been reported to depend on its surface area, pore-volume, and pore diameter. Hence, the more the surface area (SA), pore volume (PV), and pore diameter (PD), the more the catalytic activity of the catalyst in the process 42 . In this study, the SA for α-Fe 2 O 3, RBC500, RBC700 and RBC900 are 107.1, 434.9, 457.5 and 471.3 m 2 /g respectively, PV; 0.541, 0.144, 0.153 and 0.160 cc/g respectively and PD; 9.236, 5.740, 5.766 and 5.842 nm respectively as shown in Table 2 .…”

Synthetic Organic Design for Solar Fuel Systems

“…The [NiFe]‐ or [FeFe]‐active site in H 2 ase and the O 2 ‐evolving [CaMn 4 ]‐cluster in Photosystem II (PSII) inspired the development of early structural biomimetics as molecular catalysts . Catalysts were initially designed to mimic the first coordination sphere of the enzyme active site, which led to Fe 2 S 2 ‐type HECs delivering modest performances, and having the propensity to decompose into active particles . Tuning the ligands’ substituents to affect the electronic density and electrochemical properties was also extensively investigated .…”

“…[5] Catalysts were initially designed to mimic the first coordination sphere of the enzyme active site,which led to Fe 2 S 2 -type HECs delivering modest performances, [5f, 6] and having the propensity to decompose into active particles. [7] Tu ning the ligands substituents to affect the electronic density and electrochemical properties was also extensively investigated. [5e,f,6c] Amore recent approach is to innovate modulation of the second and outer coordination spheres of the metal center with organic residues in an attempt to replicate the multifunctionality found in enzymes (Figure 1).…”

Ultrafine Cobalt‐Doped Iron Disulfide Nanoparticles in Ordered Mesoporous Carbon for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution

“…have attracted numerous researches as HER electrocatalysts because they exhibits certain resemblances to the active center of hydrogenase. [6][7][8][9][10] At present, cobalt sulfide-and nickel sulfide-based HER catalysts with diverse structures have been explored and most of which exhibited excellent HER activity. However, iron sulfide generally shows poor HER catalytic activity although its structure is similar to that of nickel sulfide and cobalt sulfide.…”

“…Among various nonprecious metal‐based materials, nonlayered transition metal sulfides such as iron sulfide, cobalt sulfide, nickel sulfide, etc. have attracted numerous researches as HER electrocatalysts because they exhibits certain resemblances to the active center of hydrogenase . At present, cobalt sulfide‐ and nickel sulfide‐based HER catalysts with diverse structures have been explored and most of which exhibited excellent HER activity.…”