Musikajaroen Supansa, Polin Siwat, Sattayaporn Suchinda, Jindata Warakorn, Saenrang Wittawat, Kidkhunthod Pinit, Nakajima Hideki, Butburee Teera, Chanlek Narong, Meevasana Worawat
Research Network NANOTEC-SUT on Advanced Nanomaterials and Characterization and School of Physics, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand.
Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, 328 Si Ayutthaya Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.
ACS Omega. 2021 Jul 21;6(30):19647-19655. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c02305. eCollection 2021 Aug 3.
Water electrolysis has received much attention in recent years as a means of sustainable H production. However, many challenges remain in obtaining high-purity H and making large-scale production cost-effective. This study provides a strategy for integrating a two-cell water electrolysis system with solar energy storage. In our proposed system, CuO-Cu(OH)/CuO was used as a redox mediator between oxygen and hydrogen evolution components. The system not only overcame the gas-mixing issue but also showed high gas generation performance. The redox reaction (charge/discharge) of CuO-Cu(OH)/CuO led to a significant increase (51%) in the initial rate of H production from 111.7 μmol h cm in the dark to 168.9 μmol h cm under solar irradiation. The effects of light on the redox reaction of CuO-Cu(OH)/CuO during water electrolysis were investigated by in situ X-ray absorption and photoemission spectroscopy. These results suggest that surface oxygen vacancies are created under irradiation and play an important role in increased capacitance and gas generation. These findings provide a new path to direct storage of abundant solar energy and low-cost sustainable hydrogen production.
近年来，水电解作为一种可持续制氢手段受到了广泛关注。然而，在获得高纯度氢气以及使大规模生产成本效益高方面仍存在许多挑战。本研究提供了一种将双电池水电解系统与太阳能存储相结合的策略。在我们提出的系统中，CuO-Cu(OH)/CuO被用作析氧和析氢组件之间的氧化还原介质。该系统不仅克服了气体混合问题，还表现出了高的产气性能。CuO-Cu(OH)/CuO的氧化还原反应（充电/放电）使产氢初始速率从黑暗中的111.7 μmol h cm显著提高（51%）至太阳光照下的168.9 μmol h cm。通过原位X射线吸收和光电子能谱研究了光照对水电解过程中CuO-Cu(OH)/CuO氧化还原反应的影响。这些结果表明，光照下会产生表面氧空位，其在增加电容和产气方面起着重要作用。这些发现为直接存储丰富的太阳能和低成本可持续制氢提供了一条新途径。
