Electrochemical Deposition of Catalytic Nanomaterials

Electrochemical deposition of catalytic nanomaterials encompasses a suite of wet-chemical methods that enable the controlled growth of metal or metal-oxide films, alloys and composite structures directly onto conductive substrates. By applying a potential or current pulse, metal ions in solution are reduced at the electrode surface, producing deposits whose morphology, crystallinity and composition can be tuned via parameters such as bath composition, pulse waveform, temperature and additive concentration. Techniques such as underpotential deposition (UPD), surface-limited redox replacement (SLRR) and electrochemical atomic layer deposition (e-ALD) exploit sequential or self-limiting surface processes to achieve monolayer precision. These approaches allow for minimal use of precious metals and the design of core–shell or bimetallic architectures with enhanced activity and durability. Electrochemical deposition has found wide application in fuel cells, electrolytic water splitting, carbon dioxide reduction and electrosynthesis, where high surface area, tailored active sites and interfacial properties are essential for efficient catalysis.

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Electrochemical Deposition of Catalytic Nanomaterials publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in electrochemical deposition of catalytic nanomaterials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Underpotential deposition (UPD): The selective adsorption of a submonolayer of a metal onto a foreign substrate at potentials more positive than its standard reduction potential, enabling surface-limited growth.

Surface-limited redox replacement (SLRR): A spontaneous, self-terminating exchange process in which an underpotentially deposited layer of a less noble metal is oxidatively replaced by a more noble metal ion.

Electrochemical atomic layer deposition (e-ALD): A cyclic, two-step electrodeposition technique combining UPD and SLRR to build precise atomic layers of a target metal film.

d-Band centre: An electronic structure descriptor denoting the energy position of the metal’s d-orbital band relative to the Fermi level, which correlates with adsorption strength of reaction intermediates.

References

1. Electro-Design of Bimetallic PdTe Electrocatalyst for Ethanol Oxidation: Combined Experimental Approach and Ab Initio Density Functional Theory (DFT)—Based Study. Nanomaterials (2022).
2. PdNiONF−Borophene Nanocomposite as a Promising Catalyst for Ethanol Electro‐Oxidation Reaction. ChemElectroChem (2024).