Boosting hydrogen production in ultrathin birnessite nanosheet arrays-based electrolytic cell by glycerol and urea oxidation reactions

Ruan, W.; Yuan, C.; Teng, F.; Liao, H.; Ibhadon, A. O.

Abstract

It is still a big challenge to develop an innovative strategy to overcome sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, ultrathin birnessite@nickel foam nanosheet array (KMO@NF) with oxygen vacancy (VO) is prepared by an in-situ growth method. KMO@NF shows a high activity for water splitting because VO and Mn3+ favor the adsorption of OH− and H2O. Furthermore, glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) are employed to substitute for OER to improve hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Compared with OER, the anodic current densities of GOR and UOR have increased by 19.34 and 18.04 times at 1.43 V (vs. reverse hydrogen electrode (RHE)), respectively. To reach the same current density of 30 mA/cm2, the required cell voltages for UOR- and GOR-based electrolytic cells have decreased by about 16% than that of water-based electrolytic cell (2.024 V), meaning that to produce the same amount of hydrogen, about 16% of electric energy can be economized. Besides, the Faradaic efficiencies of UOR- and GOR-based electrolytic cells (95% and 97%) are higher than that of water-based electrolytic cell (92%), confirming a higher conversion of energy. The innovative system can not only produce hydrogen efficiently, but also effectively degrade environmental pollutants.

Citation

Ruan, W., Yuan, C., Teng, F., Liao, H., & Ibhadon, A. O. (2022). Boosting hydrogen production in ultrathin birnessite nanosheet arrays-based electrolytic cell by glycerol and urea oxidation reactions. Materials Today Chemistry, 26, Article 101086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtchem.2022.101086

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 10, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Aug 19, 2022
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2023
• Journal: Materials Today Chemistry
• Electronic ISSN: 2468-5194
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Article Number: 101086
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtchem.2022.101086
• Keywords: Hydrogen evolution reaction; Glycerol oxidation reaction; Oxygen vacancy; Birnessite@nickel foam nanosheet array
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4064419