Transition metal tellurides as emerging catalysts for electrochemical water splitting

Renewable energy powered electrochemical water splitting has been recognized as a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way to produce green hydrogen, which is an important vector to decarbonize the transport sector and hard-to-abate industry, able to contribute to achieving global carbon neutrality. For large-scale deployment of water electrolyzers, it is essential to develop efficient and durable electro-catalysts-one of key components determining the electro-chemical performance, based on cheap and earth-abundant materials. To this end, transition metal tellurides (TMTs) have recently emerged as a promising alternative to the conven-tional platinum group metals for both hydrogen evolution re -action (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). This review article provides a brief account of the latest develop-ment in TMT-based HER and OER catalysts, with a focus on various strategies developed to improve the catalytic perfor-mance, such as nanostructure engineering, composition en-gineering, and heterostructuring/hybridization. Perspectives of future research on TMT-based catalysts are also shortly outlined.