The photo- and electrocatalysts play a critical role in clean energy generation and conversion technologies. Although the precious metal-based materials are widely recognized as superior catalysts for energy applications, their large-scale commercial use has been hindered by their expensive and scarcity nature. The development of high performance, plentiful and cheap nonprecious-metal catalysts is therefore vital for the commercial viability of clean energy future. Unfortunately, the most of nonprecious metal materials in their pristine forms possess little or no catalytic activity. As such, the unlocking the catalytic potential of nonprecious metal materials has become the most important scientific task of the research field, but highly challenging.