Heralding the electrification era of catalysts: A highly practical current-assisted catalytic strategy

The second industrial revolution marked the beginning of the electrification era, significantly amplifying the role of renewable electric energy in societal advancement. As electric energy gradually becomes greener and power costs decrease, there is a growing momentum to replace coal, oil, and natural gas in the realm of terminal energy consumption with clean, renewable electric energy. This shift is poised to increase the proportion of electric energy in industries and various sectors, thereby ushering in a “new electrification era.” Catalysis is a cornerstone of contemporary industrial systems. Achieving practical electrification of catalysts will drive significant green, economical, and intelligent transformations in catalysis and potentially across the entire industrial sector.

Sekine et al. first introduced the current-assisted strategy into traditional thermal catalysis.1 In 2017, they proposed surface proton hopping mechanism to preliminarily explain the enhancement phenomenon of catalytic performance.2 This technology significantly improved ethanol decomposition performance compared to traditional thermal catalysis, marking the initiation of catalyst electrification and attracting increasing attention as a research hotspot. However, the high resistivity of traditional catalysts results in substantial potential differences across the catalysts, severely limiting their practical applicability. In 2019, Wismann et al. effectively heated a nickel-based methane reforming catalyst using Joule heat generated within a metal alloy reaction tube.3 The intimate contact between the catalyst and the heat source made it possible for the catalytic reaction to reach thermal equilibrium, enabling 90% methane conversion at 710°C. The low operating voltage characteristic has driven the practical progress of catalyst electrification.