Optimal Coatings of Co3 O4 Anodes for Acidic Water Electrooxidation.

Implementation of proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers for large-scale sustainable hydrogen production requires the replacement of scarce noble-metal anode electrocatalysts with low-cost alternatives. However, such earth-abundant materials often exhibit inadequate stability and/or catalytic activity at low pH, especially at high rates of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, the authors explore the influence of a dielectric nanoscale-thin oxide layer, namely Al2 O3 , SiO2 , TiO2 , SnO2 , and HfO2 , prepared by atomic layer deposition, on the stability and catalytic activity of low-cost and active but insufficiently stable Co3 O4 anodes. It is demonstrated that the ALD layers improve both the stability and activity of Co3 O4 following the order of HfO2 > SnO2 > TiO2 > Al2 O3 , SiO2 . An optimal HfO2 layer thickness of 12 nm enhances the Co3 O4 anode durability by more than threefold, achieving over 42 h of continuous electrolysis at 10 mA cm-2 in 1 m H2 SO4 electrolyte. Density functional theory is used to investigate the superior performance of HfO2 , revealing a major role of the HfO2 |Co3 O4 interlayer forces in the stabilization mechanism. These insights offer a potential strategy to engineer earth-abundant materials for low-pH OER catalysts with improved performance from earth-abundant materials for efficient hydrogen production.

Understanding Structure-Activity Relationship in Pt-loaded g-C3 N4 for Efficient Solar- Photoreforming of Polyethylene Terephthalate Plastic and Hydrogen Production.

Coupling the hydrogen evolution reaction with plastic waste photoreforming provides a synergistic path for simultaneous production of green hydrogen and recycling of post-consumer products, two major enablers for establishment of a circular economy. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4 ) is a promising photocatalyst due to its suitable optoelectronic and physicochemical properties, and inexpensive fabrication. Herein, a mechanistic investigation of the structure-activity relationship of g-C3 N4 for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) photoreforming is reported by carefully controlling its fabrication from a subset of earth-abundant precursors, such as dicyandiamide, melamine, urea, and thiourea. These findings reveal that melamine-derived g-C3 N4 with 3 wt.% Pt has significantly higher performance than alternative derivations, achieving a maximum hydrogen evolution rate of 7.33 mmolH2  gcat -1  h-1 , and simultaneously photoconverting PET into valuable organic products including formate, glyoxal, and acetate, with excellent stability for over 30 h of continuous production. This is attributed to the higher crystallinity and associated chemical resistance of melamine-derived g-C3 N4 , playing a major role in stabilization of its morphology and surface properties. These new insights on the role of precursors and structural properties in dictating the photoactivity of g-C3 N4 set the foundation for the further development of photocatalytic processes for combined green hydrogen production and plastic waste reforming.