Development of copper foam-based composite catalysts for electrolysis of water and beyond

As a cost-effective and environmentally friendly secondary energy source, hydrogen energy is one of the top future targets for the development of clean energy. The electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen is the most efficient and environmentally friendly technology for developing hydrogen energy. There is an urgent demand to develop electrolytic hydrogen production catalysts, which should possess characteristics such as nontoxicity, easy synthesis, abundant resources, high electrocatalytic properties and stability. Besides, excellent performance of substrate electrode materials is also one of the keys to improve catalytic performance of the materials. Copper foams (CF) are used as electrode substrates due to their high electrical conductivity, highly porous three-dimensional (3D) network structure, and low cost. We discussed recent progress in the direct construction of nanomaterials on 3D copper foams as advanced composite catalysts for electrochemical water electrolysis, as well as the applications of copper foams in the urea oxidation reaction, the methanol oxidation reaction and electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, and offered prospects and perspectives for the future growth of novel materials on 3D substrates in this review.