Simultaneously boosting hydrogen production and ethanol upgrading using a highly-efficient hollow needle-like copper
Shuang Sheng1, Ke Ye1, Yinyi Gao1
1Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, PR China.
Abstract:
Electrocatalytic water splitting used for generating clean and sustainable hydrogen (H2) can be very promising to address current energy shortage and associated environmental issues. However, this methodology is severely impeded by the tardy oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Hence, designing a preferable kinetics and thermodynamics oxidation reaction that supersede OER is very significant for the energy-saving production of H2. Herein, hollow needle-like copper cobalt sulfide was constructed on carbon cloth (CuCo2S4/CC) as a bifunctional electrocatalyst to accelerate H2 generation and simultaneously convert ethanol into value-added acetic acid. Thanks to the synergistic effect and unique structure of Cu and Co, CuCo2S4/CC displays superior catalytic activity and durability in ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) with a low potential of 1.38 V vs. RHE (@10 mA cm-2). Meanwhile, it exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. The homemade CuCo2S4/CC//CuCo2S4/CC ethanol-water electrolyser only demands a voltage of 1.59 V to deliver 10 mA cm-2, 150 mV less than that used for ordinary water splitting. This shows that the ethanol-water electrolyser elaborated here holds encouraging potential in the energy-saving production of H2 and oxidation of ethanol into value-added acetic acid. This present work may open the way for the rational design of other electrocatalysts for efficient biomass oxidation reaction and relevant H2 production applications.
More Related Videos
06:32A Simple, Low-cost, and Robust System to Measure the Volume of Hydrogen Evolved by Chemical Reactions with Aqueous Solutions
Published on: August 17, 2016
10:21Developing Photosensitizer-Cobaloxime Hybrids for Solar-Driven H2 Production in Aqueous Aerobic Conditions
Published on: October 5, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Reduction of Alkenes: Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...
Catalysis
Reduction of Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Metals like palladium, platinum, and nickel are commonly used in their solid forms — fine powder on an inert surface. As these catalysts remain insoluble in the reaction mixture, they are referred to as heterogeneous catalysts.
The hydrogenation process takes place on the...
Precipitation and Co-precipitation
