Hou Mengyan, Chen Long, Guo Zhaowei, Dong Xiaoli, Wang Yonggang, Xia Yongyao
Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Institute of New Energy, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Fudan University, 200433, Shanghai, China.
Nat Commun. 2018 Jan 30;9(1):438. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02877-x.
Existing chlor-alkali processes generally use asbestos, mercury or fluorine-containing ion-exchange membranes to separate the simultaneous chlorine production on the anode and hydrogen production on the cathode, and form sodium hydroxide in the electrolyte. Here, using the Na de-intercalation/intercalation of a NaMnO electrode as a redox mediator, we decouple the chlor-alkali process into two independent steps: a H production step with the NaOH formation in the electrolyte and a Cl production step. The first step involves a cathodic H evolution reaction (HO → H) and an anodic Na de-intercalation reaction (NaMnO → NaMnO), during which NaOH is produced in the electrolyte solution. The second step depends on a cathodic Na intercalation reaction (NaMnO → NaMnO) and an anodic Cl production (Cl → Cl). The cycle of the two steps provides a membrane-free process, which is potentially a promising direction for developing clean chlor-alkali technology.
现有的氯碱工艺通常使用石棉、汞或含氟离子交换膜来分离阳极上同时进行的氯气生产和阴极上的氢气生产，并在电解液中形成氢氧化钠。在此，我们利用NaMnO电极的Na脱嵌/嵌入作为氧化还原介质，将氯碱工艺解耦为两个独立步骤：一个是在电解液中形成氢氧化钠的氢气生产步骤，以及一个氯气生产步骤。第一步涉及阴极析氢反应（HO→H）和阳极Na脱嵌反应（NaMnO→NaMnO），在此期间，电解液溶液中会产生氢氧化钠。第二步取决于阴极Na嵌入反应（NaMnO→NaMnO）和阳极氯气生产（Cl→Cl）。这两个步骤的循环提供了一种无膜工艺，这可能是开发清洁氯碱技术的一个有前景的方向。
