Recently, the Clean Energy Materials and Devices team at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, made a breakthrough in the field of biomass oxidation-coupled low-energy electrolytic hydrogen production, with their related research published in Chemistry.
Utilizing renewable electricity to drive electrolytic hydrogen production is one of the ideal approaches to support China's "dual carbon" goals. By coupling hydrogen production from water electrolysis with biomass oxidation reactions that replace the oxygen evolution reaction at the anode, it is possible to construct a hydrogen production system with low energy consumption while simultaneously producing high-value-added chemicals.
The research team has developed a novel amorphous-like metal NiCoBx material for the electrooxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), exhibiting selective oxidation of HMF at relatively low potentials. During the HMF electrooxidation process, as the NiCoBx structure evolves to form active phases, reactants containing aldehyde functional groups, such as HMF, preferentially adsorb onto the catalyst material surface, accelerating the electron transfer and dehydrogenation processes at the metal sites, thereby promoting the in-situ generation of active phases for HMF electrooxidation.
Furthermore, the research team coupled HMF electrooxidation with hydrogen production reactions to construct a low-energy coupled hydrogen production system (HMFOR//HER). This electrolysis system, with NiCoBx as the anode, can simultaneously produce FDCA and hydrogen gas, achieving an industrial-level current density of 400 milliamps per square centimeter at only 1.62 volts of total cell voltage and can operate continuously for over 100 hours. By using this coupled system to replace traditional alkaline electrolysis cells, approximately 1.03 kilowatt-hours of electricity input can be saved for every cubic meter of hydrogen gas produced.
