Electrocatalytic Water Splitting Using MXene-Based Materials

Electrocatalytic water splitting offers a sustainable route to green hydrogen production, underpinning the transition to a low-carbon energy economy. Central to this technology is the design of robust, efficient electrocatalysts for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). MXenes, a family of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides, have emerged as versatile platforms owing to their metallic conductivity, hydrophilic surfaces and tunable chemistry. However, challenges such as restacking of nanosheets, surface oxidation and limited intrinsic active sites can hinder their catalytic performance. Recent strategies have centred on interface engineering, heteroatom doping and hybridisation with metal-organic frameworks, layered double hydroxides or transition metal chalcogenides. By creating stable heterointerfaces, introducing porosity and optimising electronic structure, these approaches have produced MXene-based composites that deliver low overpotentials, steep Tafel slopes and high current densities in alkaline and acidic media. Such advances not only improve fundamental understanding of charge-transfer processes at MXene surfaces but also pave the way for the practical implementation of compact electrolysers and decentralised hydrogen generators.

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Electrocatalytic Water Splitting Using MXene-Based Materials publication trend

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Technical terms

Electrocatalytic water splitting: The electrochemical process of decomposing water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrocatalysts under an applied potential.

Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER): The cathodic half-reaction in water splitting where protons are reduced to molecular hydrogen.

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER): The anodic half-reaction in water splitting where water molecules are oxidised to form molecular oxygen.

MXenes: Two-dimensional transition metal carbides, nitrides or carbonitrides, denoted Mn₊₁XnTx, prized for their high conductivity and surface tunability.

Overpotential: The extra potential beyond the thermodynamic requirement needed to drive a given electrochemical reaction at a specified rate.

Tafel slope: A parameter in the Tafel equation that quantifies how voltage changes with the logarithm of current density, reflecting catalytic kinetics.

References

1. Interface and doping engineering of V2C‐MXene‐based electrocatalysts for enhanced electrocatalysis of overall water splitting. Carbon Energy (2024).
2. MXene boosted MOF-derived cobalt sulfide/carbon nanocomposites as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for OER and HER. Nanoscale Advances (2024).