Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Hydrogen Production and Utilization in a Membrane Reactor
Published on: March 10, 2023
Hydrophilic RuGd Alloy Redirecting Interfacial Water Adsorption Configuration for Long-Term and Ampere-Level Hydrogen
Xintong Liu1, Caikang Wang1,2, Xiangrui Wu1
1Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
None:
Rapid interfacial water dissociation is pivotal to efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in anion-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE), whereas its effective modulation remains a great challenge. Herein, we develop a hydrophilic RuGd alloy supported on carboxylated lignin-derived carbon (RuGd/CLC) enabling rapid interfacial water dissociation for long-term and ampere-level hydrogen production. The RuGd/CLC as a cathode catalyst of AEMWE cell can achieve 1.0 A cm-2 at only 1.685 V and sustains continuous operation for over 1200 h with a degradation rate of only 10 µV h-1. It is discovered that the hydrophilic Gd induces local charge redistribution and interfacial oxyphilic site that strengthens O-end interaction of H2O at the alloy interface, which redirects adsorbed H2O from a parallel configuration on Ru to a more polarized asymmetric H-down configuration. This reorientation is accompanied by unequal O─H bond elongation and hydrogen-bond-network reconstruction from a bound state toward free water, which reduces water dissociation energy barriers to continuously supply sufficient protons in HER. This work provides an effective rare earth induced redirection strategy for accelerating interfacial water dissociation and high-performance hydrogen production.
Related Concept Videos
02:17Reduction 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...
02:13Reduction 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 surface of...
02:40Alkynes to Aldehydes and Ketones: Acid-Catalyzed Hydration
Analogous to alkenes, alkynes also undergo acid-catalyzed hydration. While the addition of water to an alkene gives an alcohol, hydration of alkynes produces different products such as aldehydes and ketones.
01:22Heterogeneous Catalysis
02:24Reduction of Alkynes to cis-Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Like alkenes, alkynes can be reduced to alkanes in the presence of transition metal catalysts such as Pt, Pd, or Ni. The reaction involves two sequential syn additions of hydrogen via a cis-alkene intermediate.
02:34Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Acid-Catalyzed Hydration