Metal–support interactions (MSIs) is essential for the understanding of structure–performance relationship and designing in heterogeneous catalysis area. This review mainly summarizes the current theoretical and experimental research of MSIs.

The ground breaking studies of the past several years have ushered in a golden era of binary nonmetal transition metal compounds (BN-TMCs) in HER electrocatalysis. Here, we round up the recent developments in BN-TMCs from the viewpoint of its tunable physicochemical properties.

Reaction between NiFe LDH and NaBH₄ induces vacancies around Fe³⁺ and enrichment in Ni³⁺, crucially activating the OER catalyst leading to high performance.

It remains a major challenge to develop a facile method to prepare non-noble metal electrocatalysts with high activity and durability to drive the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Herein, a highly efficient bimetallic Zn/Fe@N-doped hierarchical porous carbon (Zn/Fe–N–C) catalyst derived from ZIF-8 and hemin (host–guest) was firstly reported by one-step thermal treatment. Fe²⁺ spatially separated by using the hemin guest in the ZIF-8 framework and hydrocarbon-branched chains form rich Fe–N_x active sites, and the evaporation of Zn²⁺ generates a highly porous structure in the Zn/Fe–N–C catalysts. Benefitting from this unique structure and composition, the resulting Zn/Fe₂–N–C catalyst exhibits excellent ORR activities in both 0.1 M KOH (onset potential, E_onset = 1.08 V, and half-wave potential, E_1/2 = 0.86 V vs. RHE) and 0.5 M H₂SO₄ media (E_onset = 1.04 V and E_1/2 = 0.81 V), which are even comparable to those of the commercial Pt/C catalyst, and ranks among the top reported electrocatalysts. In addition, it also has outstanding long-term durability and good methanol resistance, much better than those of Pt/C in both acidic and alkaline media, which makes it one of the best non-noble alternatives of Pt-based catalysts for ORR electrocatalysis. This work highlights the potential to rationally design and fabricate high-performance ORR catalysts for fuel cell applications.

Electrocatalytic nitrogen fixation at room temperature and ambient pressure is considered to be one of the most energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly approaches to ammonia (NH₃) production. The construction of efficient catalysts for the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) remains a significant challenge. However, there have been no reports dedicated to non-noble bimetals on nitrogen-doped carbons as efficient NRR electrocatalysts, considered from either side of the theoretical volcano plot for the NRR. Herein, Mo–Co bimetallic nanoparticles anchored on nitrogen-doped porous carbon (Mo–Co/NC) are developed for the first time and serve as a cost-effective catalyst candidate for the NRR. In comparison to single-metallic Co/NC, a bimetallic Mo–Co/NC catalyst exhibits the enhanced activity and selectivity of NRR electrocatalysis with an ammonia yield of 89.8 μmol h⁻¹ g_cat. ⁻¹ and a faradaic efficiency of 13.5%, at a low operating potential of −0.10 V (vs. RHE) in 0.1 M Na₂SO₄. Moreover, the composite catalyst shows high electrochemical stability and selectivity during 50 000 s of NRR processing. The favorable NRR electrocatalytic activity of Mo–Co/NC could be ascribed to the synergistic effect of strongly adsorbed Mo and weakly adsorbed Co composite. This work provides a facile strategy towards the design of porous non-precious metallic electrocatalysts for efficient NRR under ambient conditions.