UC Berkeley

The surface and interfaces of heterogeneous catalysts are essential to their performance as they are often considered to be active sites for catalytic reactions. With the development of nanoscience, the ability to tune surface and interface of nanostructures has provided a versatile tool for the development and optimization of a heterogeneous catalyst. In this Review, we present the surface and interface control of nanoparticle catalysts in the context of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂ RR), and tandem catalysis in three sections. In the first section, we start with the activity of ORR on the nanoscale surface and then focus on the approaches to optimize the performance of Pt-based catalyst including using alloying, core-shell structure, and high surface area open structures. In the section of CO₂ RR, where the surface composition of the catalysts plays a dominant role, we cover its reaction fundamentals and the performance of different nanosized metal catalysts. For tandem catalysis, where adjacent catalytic interfaces in a single nanostructure catalyze sequential reactions, we describe its concept and principle, catalyst synthesis methodology, and application in different reactions.