Hybrid materials for electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis

Abstract

Hybrid materials are materials composed of different classes of materials forged into one for a particular application. These materials are often a combination of both organic and inorganic/metallic constituents. In both electrochemical and photoelectrochemical processes, hybrids have been applied in the splitting of water as well as the conversion of nitrogen to ammonia amongst others. And while they have often been reported to function better than catalysts derived from single atoms, the manner in which hybrids operate as catalysts remains a grey area as there are limited accounts outlining the contribution made by each component of the whole entity. This chapter provides some insight on hybrid materials and their classifications, their syntheses and applications as electrochemical and photoelectrochemical catalysts, and how their catalytic abilities cannot always be reduced to the concept of synergy