Beyond Crystallinity: How Amorphous Structures Dictate Performance in Electrocatalysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Electrocatalysis has proven remarkable effectiveness in various fields, such as energy conversion and storage, chemical synthesis, and environmental remediation. Catalysts play a crucial role in determining the efficiency of electrocatalytic reactions. In the past decades, amorphous electrocatalysts have attracted significant attention owing to their structural disorder‐induced advantages, such as abundant active sites, high structural flexibility, and unique electronic structure. More recently, amorphous‐crystalline heterophase electrocatalysts have been proven even more effective because of the synergy between different phases. Herein, the common synthesis methods and fundamental features of amorphous‐based structures are outlined, including amorphous phase and amorphous‐crystalline dual‐phase nanomaterials. Importantly, the correlations between the structural characteristics of amorphous‐based nanomaterials and their electrocatalytic performance are interpreted in depth, with the focus on newly emerged materials in recent years and energy‐related electrocatalytic reactions. Finally, perspectives on the remaining challenges and potential research directions in future are also provided.