Laboratory of Organic Electronics, ITN Campus Norrköping, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden and Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Chemical and Process Engineering and Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
Redox.me AB, Norrköping, Sweden.
Chem Commun (Camb). 2018 Oct 28;54(84):11873-11876. doi: 10.1039/c8cc06802j. Epub 2018 Oct 3.
Single-compartment hydrogen peroxide fuel cells have recently emerged as a promising energy conversion platform since HO is a high energy-density liquid that functions as both fuel and oxidizer. Finding suitable electrocatalysts is challenging since most metallic electrodes also catalyze the disproportionation reaction of HO into HO and O, representing a significant loss mechanism in peroxide fuel cells. Herein we demonstrate that the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, is a versatile electrocatalyst for peroxide fuel cells without generating losses due to disproportionation. We find that PEDOT is a cathodic catalyst for reduction of peroxide to water, performing at a level on par with the best reported inorganic catalysts. Using PEDOT as the cathode and nickel as the anode material, open circuit potentials in the range of 0.5-0.6 V are possible, with power densities of 0.20-0.30 mW cm. We provide evidence to understand mechanistically how PEDOT functions as a catalyst for hydrogen peroxide reduction to water. The result of our efforts is a scalable hydrogen peroxide fuel cell cathode, which serves to demonstrate also the capabilities of organic semiconducting materials as electrocatalysts.
单室过氧化氢燃料电池最近作为一种很有前途的能量转换平台出现，因为 HO 是一种高能密度液体，既可用作燃料又可用作氧化剂。寻找合适的电催化剂是具有挑战性的，因为大多数金属电极也会催化 HO 歧化为 HO 和 O 的反应，这是过氧化物燃料电池中一个重大的损耗机制。本文中，我们证明了导电聚合物聚（3,4-亚乙基二氧噻吩）（PEDOT）是一种多功能的过氧化物燃料电池电催化剂，不会因歧化而产生损耗。我们发现 PEDOT 是一种阴极催化剂，可将过氧化物还原为水，其性能与报道的最佳无机催化剂相当。使用 PEDOT 作为阴极和镍作为阳极材料，开路电位在 0.5-0.6 V 范围内，功率密度为 0.20-0.30 mW cm。我们提供了证据来理解 PEDOT 作为过氧化氢还原为水的催化剂的作用机制。我们的努力的结果是一种可扩展的过氧化氢燃料电池阴极，这也证明了有机半导体材料作为电催化剂的能力。
