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Updated: Jul 17, 2025

A Simple, Low-cost, and Robust System to Measure the Volume of Hydrogen Evolved by Chemical Reactions with Aqueous Solutions
Published on: August 17, 2016
Coupling Glycerol Conversion with Hydrogen Production Using Alloyed Electrocatalysts
Tianpei Yang1,2, Yi Shen1,2
1School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Abstract:
Herein, uniform precious alloys including PtAg, PdAg, and PtPdAg nanoparticles were synthesized as electrocatalysts for glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR). The structures of the samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry. The catalytic performance of the samples was evaluated in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes. Among the samples, PtPdAg exhibited superior activity with the largest current density of 3.77 mA cm-2 in alkaline solutions, which is 4.1 and 7.7 times those of Pd/C and Pt/C, respectively. In acidic solutions, the PtPdAg catalyst shows the highest current density of 0.58 mA cm-2, which is 1.8 times that of the Pt/C catalyst. The products of GOR were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Eight products including oxalic acid, tartronic acid, glyoxylic acid, glyceric acid, glyceraldehyde (GLAD), glycolic acid, lactic acid, and dihydroxyacetone were detected. Notably, in acidic solutions, PtAg and PtPdAg yielded the largest GLAD selectivity of 92.2% at 0.6 and 0.8 V, respectively. Using the alloyed catalysts, electrolysis processes coupling the GOR with the hydrogen evolution reaction were conducted. The conversion of glycerol and production of hydrogen were determined. To highlight the energy efficiency, a solar-panel-powered electrolysis process was conducted for the simultaneous production of hydrogen and high-valued products.
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