Biomass-Derived Electrocatalysts: Low-Cost, Robust Materials for Sustainable Electrochemical Energy Conversion

Electrochemical energy conversion is an important strategy for addressing climate change and building a carbon-neutral society. The use of inexpensive biomass resources to develop high-performance catalytic materials that reduce the energy barrier of electrochemical reactions and minimize energy consumption has become a research hotspot for energy materials. Previous reviews have often categorized biomass-derived catalysts by the biomass feedstocks used, but this classification method has major limitations because the roles of the same biomass material in different catalysts can vary. In this review, a new classification approach for biomass-derived catalytic materials by focusing on the role of bio-based materials in the overall catalyst system is proposed. The review is divided into three main sections, categorizing bio-based materials by 1) the active components, 2) the carbon support, and 3) the entire catalyst. Additionally, a comprehensive summary is provided of catalytic materials at different scales, including the nanoscale, molecular scale, and single-atom scale. It is hoped that this review will guide and inspire the future development of biomass-derived electrocatalysts. In this review, a new classification approach for biomass-derived catalytic materials by focusing on the role of bio-based materials in the overall catalyst system is proposed and recent developments of biomass-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction, oxygen evolution, hydrogen evolution, and carbon dioxide reduction are summarized.image (c) 2023 WILEY-VCH GmbH