Wang Zhaoqi, Guo Yuhao, Liu Mu, Liu Xiaolei, Zhang Haipeng, Jiang Weiyi, Wang Peng, Zheng Zhaoke, Liu Yuanyuan, Cheng Hefeng, Dai Ying, Wang Zeyan, Huang Baibiao
State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China.
School of Physics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China.
Adv Mater. 2022 Jul;34(27):e2201594. doi: 10.1002/adma.202201594. Epub 2022 Jun 2.
Utilizing a photoelectrochemical (PEC) fuel cell to replace difficult water oxidation with facile oxidation of organic wastes is regarded as an effective method to improve the H production efficiency. However, in most reported PEC fuel cells, their PEC activities are still low and the energy in organic fuels cannot be effectively utilized. Here, a unique BiVO PEC fuel cell is successfully developed by utilizing the low-cost biomass, tartaric acid, as an organic fuel. Thanks to the strong complexation between BiVO and tartaric acid, a bridge for the charge and energy transfer is successfully constructed, which not only improves the photoelectric conversion efficiency of BiVO , but also effectively converts the chemical energy of biomass into H . Remarkably, under AM1.5G illumination, the optimal nanoporous BiVO photoanode exhibits a high current density of 13.54 mA cm at 1.23 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) for H production, which is higher than that of previously reported PEC water splitting systems or PEC fuel cell systems. This work opens a new path for solving the low PEC H production efficiency and provides a new idea for improving the performances and energy conversion efficiency in traditional PEC fuel cells.
利用光电化学（PEC）燃料电池，用有机废物的简易氧化取代困难的水氧化，被认为是提高制氢效率的有效方法。然而，在大多数已报道的PEC燃料电池中，它们的PEC活性仍然很低，有机燃料中的能量无法得到有效利用。在此，通过利用低成本生物质酒石酸作为有机燃料，成功开发出一种独特的BiVO PEC燃料电池。由于BiVO与酒石酸之间的强络合作用，成功构建了电荷和能量转移的桥梁，这不仅提高了BiVO的光电转换效率，还能将生物质的化学能有效地转化为氢气。值得注意的是，在AM1.5G光照下，优化后的纳米多孔BiVO光阳极在相对于可逆氢电极（RHE）为1.23V时，制氢的高电流密度达到13.54 mA/cm²，高于先前报道的PEC水分解系统或PEC燃料电池系统。这项工作为解决PEC制氢效率低的问题开辟了一条新途径，并为提高传统PEC燃料电池的性能和能量转换效率提供了新思路。
