How can high-throughput experimentation accelerate the rational design of electro-catalysts for sustainable energy conversion?

Materials: discovery is the linchpin to advance sustainable energy technologies, which mitigate resource scarcity and climate change. Establishing a carbon-neutral society relies heavily on the introduction of highly active and stable electrocatalysts for sustainable reaction engineering. In the current expression of high-throughput materials science, both high-throughput synthesis (HTS) and high-throughput characterization (HTC) are required to effectively cover an ever-increasing search space. HTS relies on combinatorial design and multimodal growth to overcome the constraints of traditional electrocatalyst fabrication. Concomitantly, HTC rapidly elucidates relationships between the composition, structure, and processing of electrocatalysts and their (multi-)functional properties, such as, activity, selectivity, and stability. In this review, we discuss emerging trends in high-throughput experimentation (HTE) to discover, design, and optimize electrocatalytically active materials for sustainable energy sources. We highlight the potential of individual HTS and HTC building blocks to be integrated into a holistic HTE workflow in conjunction with AI-driven feedback loops to truly accelerate the discovery process. Finally, we discuss future challenges and opportunities to improve the rational design strategy of electrocatalysts for sustainable energy sources based on integrated HTE workflows.