Pressure Gradient Squeezing Hydrogen out of MnOOH: Thermodynamics and Electrochemistry

Pressure of gigapascal (GPa) is a robust force for driving phase transitions and chemical reactions with negative volume change and is intensely used for promoting combination/addition reactions. Here, we find that the pressure gradient between the high-pressure region and the ambient-pressure environment in a diamond anvil cell is an even stronger force to drive decomposition/elimination reactions. A pressure difference of tens of GPa can "push" hydrogen out from its compounds in the high-pressure region to the environment. More importantly, in transition metal hydroxides such as MnOOH, the protons and electrons of hydrogen can even be separated via different conductors, pushed out by the high pressure, and recombine outside under ambient conditions, producing continuous current. A pressure-gradient-driven battery is hence proposed. Our investigation demonstrated that a pressure gradient is a special and powerful force to drive decomposition and electrochemical reactions.