The Readiness of Water Molecules to Split into Hydrogen + Oxygen: A Proposed New Aspect of Water Splitting

Schäfer, Helmut; Schuster, Anja; Kunis, Stefan; Bookholt, Tom; Hardege, Jörg; Ruewe, Klara; Brune, Julia

Abstract

The potential of the anode, at which the evolution of oxygen begins, is a key parameter that describes how well water is split in water electrolyzers. Research efforts related to electrocatalytically initiated water splitting that aim at reducing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential to date focus on the optimization of materials used to produce the electrodes. Descriptors for the readiness of the H2O molecule itself to break down into its components have not been considered in water electrolysis experiments so far. In a simple set of experiments, it is found that adding dioxane to aqueous solutions leads to a substantial blueshift of the frequency of the O-H stretch vibration which is a sign of an increased strength of the O-H bond (intramolecular bonding). This phenomenon coincides with a significant increase in the OER onset potential as derived from cyclic voltammetry experiments. Thus, the O-H stretch frequency can be an ideal indicator for the readiness of water molecules to be split in its cleavage products. This is thought to be first example of a study into the relationship between structural features of water as derived from Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectroscopic studies and key results derived from water electrolysis experiments.

Citation

Schäfer, H., Schuster, A., Kunis, S., Bookholt, T., Hardege, J., Ruewe, K., & Brune, J. (in press). The Readiness of Water Molecules to Split into Hydrogen + Oxygen: A Proposed New Aspect of Water Splitting. Advanced materials, Article 2300099. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202300099

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 20, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Apr 20, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 26, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 26, 2023
• Journal: Advanced Materials
• Print ISSN: 0935-9648
• Electronic ISSN: 1521-4095
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Article Number: 2300099
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202300099
• Keywords: Electrocatalysis; Heterogeneous catalysis; Renewable energy; Water electrolysis
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4270274