Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) hold a great prospect in the field of catalysis. Recently, a review with the title of “Recent advances in nanostructured transition metal phosphides: synthesis and energy-related applications” has been published on Energy & Environmental Science (EES, IF=30.289), the top journal of energy and environment fields, by Yanmei Shi, a postdoctoral fellow from the Department of Chemistry, School of Science at Tianjin University.

In this review, Yanmei Shi and coworkers first summarized the latest synthesis strategies of TMPs, and then introduced their specific applications in energy conversion and storage fields from four directions of thermocatalysis, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and energy storage, which provided valuable guidance for the design of such efficient and stable materials. The link to the paper is https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EE02577A.

The synthesis of artificial TMPs can be dated back to the 18th century. However, the application of TMPs was dormant for nearly 200 years. In the 1950s, nickel phosphide was found to be active in the reduction of nitrobenzene to aniline in the presence of hydrogen. Afterwards, TMPs were gradually used in metallurgy, pesticides, hydrogenation and polymerization reactions, and other fields. At the end of last century, researchers found that TMPs showed high activity in hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation, which performed even better than the commercial catalysts. Entering the new century, TMPs manifested their high-activity and high-stability in hydrodeoxygenation, rechargeable batteries, photocatalysis, especially in electrolytic hydrogen evolution, thus setting off a wave of research on TMPs.