Ultrafast synthesis of electrocatalysts

Carbon-based nanocomposites have been hailed as low-cost, high-performance electrocatalysts that may rival precious metal-based commercial benchmarks in a range of electrochemical energy technologies, such as fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and metal–air batteries. These materials are typically prepared by thermal treatment of select precursors at elevated temperatures, such as controlled pyrolysis and hydro/solvothermal methods, which are time-consuming and energy-intensive. Recently, effective techniques have been developed for the ultrafast synthesis of such electrocatalysts based on the Joule effect, microwave irradiation, laser ablation, and magnetic induction heating, which markedly reduce the amount of time and energy in sample preparation and more significantly, produce nonequilibrium structures that are unattainable in conventional procedures, leading to unprecedented electrocatalytic performances.