Atomic Layer Deposition Synthesis of Iron, Cobalt, and Nickel Chalcogenides for Electrocatalysis Applications

Electrocatalysis is highly important in contemporary energy technologies. Many energy-related electrochemical reactions, such as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), require efficient low-cost electrocatalysts to enhance their reaction kinetics. Nanostructured iron, cobalt, and nickel chalcogenides are a class of promising electrocatalysts for these reactions. To synthesize these electrocatalysts, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has recently emerged as a novel powerful technique, particularly for its unique ability of conformal film coating. During the past few years, numerous new ALD processes have been realized to synthesize the chalcogenides, including FeS_x, CoS_x, NiS_x, Fe_xCo_1−xS_y, FeSe₂, CoSe₂, and NiSe₂, and their promising applications for electrocatalysis have also been well demonstrated. To provide an overview of this dynamic research area, this Chapter summarizes the latest progress in the synthesis and electrocatalysis applications of the ALD iron, cobalt, and nickel chalcogenides with an outlook on future trends.