Cerium-Based Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution/Reduction Reactions: Progress and Perspectives

Abstract

Ce-based materials have been widely used in photocatalysis and other fields because of their rich redox pairs and oxygen vacancies, despite research on the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) remaining scare. However, most pristine cerium-based materials, such as CeO2, are non-conductive materials. Therefore, how to obtain highly conductive and stable OER/ORR electrocatalysts is currently a hot research topic. To overcome these limitations, researchers have proposed a variety of strategies to promote the development of Ce-based electrocatalysts in recent years. This progress report focuses on reviewing new strategies concerning three categories of Ce-based electrocatalysts: metal–organic framework (MOF) derivatives, structure tuning, and polymetallic doping. It also puts forward the main existing problems and future prospects. The content of cerium in the crust is about 0.0046%, which is the highest among the rare earth elements. As a low-cost rare earth material, Ce-based materials have a bright future in the field of electrocatalysis due to replacing precious metal and some transition metals.