Yu Luo, Zhu Qing, Song Shaowei, McElhenny Brian, Wang Dezhi, Wu Chunzheng, Qin Zhaojun, Bao Jiming, Yu Ying, Chen Shuo, Ren Zhifeng
College of Physical Science and Technology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China.
Department of Physics and TcSUH, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204, USA.
Nat Commun. 2019 Nov 8;10(1):5106. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13092-7.
Seawater is one of the most abundant natural resources on our planet. Electrolysis of seawater is not only a promising approach to produce clean hydrogen energy, but also of great significance to seawater desalination. The implementation of seawater electrolysis requires robust and efficient electrocatalysts that can sustain seawater splitting without chloride corrosion, especially for the anode. Here we report a three-dimensional core-shell metal-nitride catalyst consisting of NiFeN nanoparticles uniformly decorated on NiMoN nanorods supported on Ni foam, which serves as an eminently active and durable oxygen evolution reaction catalyst for alkaline seawater electrolysis. Combined with an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst of NiMoN nanorods, we have achieved the industrially required current densities of 500 and 1000 mA cm at record low voltages of 1.608 and 1.709 V, respectively, for overall alkaline seawater splitting at 60 °C. This discovery significantly advances the development of seawater electrolysis for large-scale hydrogen production.
海水是地球上最丰富的自然资源之一。海水电解不仅是一种很有前景的生产清洁氢能的方法，而且对海水淡化也具有重要意义。海水电解的实施需要坚固且高效的电催化剂，这种电催化剂能够在不发生氯离子腐蚀的情况下维持海水分解，尤其是对于阳极而言。在此，我们报道了一种三维核壳结构的金属氮化物催化剂，它由均匀装饰在泡沫镍负载的NiMoN纳米棒上的NiFeN纳米颗粒组成，该催化剂可作为用于碱性海水电解的极具活性和耐久性的析氧反应催化剂。结合高效的NiMoN纳米棒析氢反应催化剂，我们在60°C下实现了整体碱性海水分解，分别在创纪录的低电压1.608和1.709V下达到了工业所需的500和1000 mA cm的电流密度。这一发现显著推动了用于大规模制氢的海水电解技术的发展。
