(150c) Sustainable Electrocatalytic Water Splitting with Earth-Abundant Materials
AIChE Annual Meeting
2017
2017 Annual Meeting
Engineering Sciences and Fundamentals
In Honor of Dennis Prieve's Retirement II (Invited Talks)
Monday, October 30, 2017 - 1:09pm to 1:27pm
Water splitting has potential for sustainable solar energy storage in the form of fuels and organic materials. Its practical use requires highly effective electrocatalysts synthesized from earth-abundant materials such as manganese and nickel. We have developed a synthesis method for manganese-based (MnOx) catalytic films in situ, with steady and excellent water oxidation performance1. The method involves two series of cyclic voltammetry (CV) over different potential ranges, followed by calcination to increase crystallinity. We have incorporated the catalysts into TiO2 to build a composite photoanode with excellent activity under ultraviolet (UV) illumination, with current work focused on improving performance by enabling solar energy collection over a wider range of wavelengths. We have also developed an electrodeposition method to synthesize Ni/Ni(OH)2 electrocatalysts in situ on conductive surfaces for the hydrogen evolution reaction2. The new method uses two cycles of CV over a single potential range, producing a film with a large number of Ni(OH)2/Ni interfaces that significantly shifts performance towards that of platinum.
- H Yuan, RR Lunt, GJ. Blanchard, and RY Ofoli. Synthesis of MnOx water oxidation catalyst on fluorine-doped tin oxide with a dual-series cyclic voltammetry method, ChemElectroChem, 3(5): 709-712 (2016).
- H Yuan, R.R Lunt, JI Thompson, and RY Ofoli Electrodeposition of Ni/Ni(OH)2 Catalytic films for the hydrogen evolution reaction produced by using cyclic voltammetry. ChemElectroChem, DOI: 10.1002/celc.201600572 (2016)