Research Progress of Spin-Dependent Effects in Catalysis and Energy Storage

Hydrogen fuel is highly valued as ideal clean energy to solve the environmental crisis. Electrolytic water splitting, as the most promising hydrogen production method, has been widely and deeply studied in recent ten years. On the other hand, lithium-ion batteries are considered the most popular energy storage equipment because of their high energy density, high working voltage, and long cycle life. However, the rapid development of society needs cheaper fuel, higher power density, and safer energy storage devices. Therefore, many new and efficient catalysts and electrode materials are being developed and explored. However, their electrochemical reaction mechanism must be clarified before they could be widely used in industry. In recent years, spin-dependent effects have been deeply studied in the field of catalysis and energy storage, which provides a theoretical foundation for analyzing the electrochemical reaction mechanism, preparing and screening promising catalytic and energy storage materials. This work summarizes the influence of spin-dependent effects on the physical and chemical properties of materials, mainly from four aspects, including electrocatalytic water splitting, metal-air batteries, lithium/sodium-sulfur batteries and lithium/sodium-ion batteries. Finally, we put forward some suggestions on the challenges and development of spin-dependent effects in catalysis and energy storage.