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Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids
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Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Catalysis for Sustainable Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 23743

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Bing Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China
2. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Pharmaceutical Engineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Interests: electrocatalysis; photocatalysis; CO2 reduction; water splitting
Dr. Chuntian Qiu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronics Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: water splitting; photocatalysis; electrocatalysis; nanomaterials; organic synthesis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hydrogen economy is a key concern for solving the global energy crisis and environmental pollution. Strategies for achieving hydrogen economy are highly in demand under the consideration of both fundamental science and practical applications. Water, alcohol and other biomass-derived liquids are promising hydrogen sources for achieving green hydrogen gas or value-added chemicals via electrochemical or photochemical reactions. On the one hand, designing highly efficient catalysts for obtaining hydrogen gas can promote the applications of hydrogen energy. On the other hand, substituting hydrogen gas via in situ-generated hydrogen from liquid to produce valuable hydrogenated fine chemicals is of equal importance. CO2 reduction and other hydrogenation reactions using water or alcohol as hydrogen sources may enable the green transformation of traditional industries.

This Special Issue of the journal Catalysts entitled ‘Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids’ aims to publish original research articles, reviews/mini-reviews, and perspectives on various topics related to the topic of hydrogen economy.

This Special Issue mainly focuses on the recent progress made in photo/electrochemical water splitting for hydrogen and the efforts made in the utilization of hydrogen derived from water or alcohols to produce value-added chemicals via green catalysis. Articles of an interdisciplinary nature are particularly welcome. Submissions in the following areas relating to hydrogen energy are of special interest to the readers of this journal:

  • Catalysts for water splitting
  • Catalysis for hydrogen evolution combined with biomass oxidation
  • Catalysis for tandem hydrogenation reactions with water or alcohols (oxygen reduction reactions, CO2 reduction reactions, etc.)

Prof. Dr. Bing Zhang
Dr. Chuntian Qiu
Guest Editors

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water splitting
  • photocatalysis
  • electrocatalysis
  • CO2 reduction
  • alcohol oxidation
  • tandem reactions
  • nanomaterials

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2984 KiB  
Article
Cu/CuOx@C Composite as a High-Efficiency Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reactions
by Ding Zhang, Yun-Fei Li, Li-Xue Liu, Lei Duan, Zhi-Li Ren, Shou-Dong Xu, Liang Chen, Hui-Juan Guo, Yi Huang, Li-Juan Shi and Qun Yi
Catalysts 2022, 12(12), 1515; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12121515 - 25 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1819
Abstract
Among clean energy transformation devices, fuel cells have gained special attention over the past years; however, advancing appropriate non-valuable metal impetuses to halfway supplant the customary Pt/C impetus is still in progress. In this paper, we propose a specific electrocatalyst in the formula [...] Read more.
Among clean energy transformation devices, fuel cells have gained special attention over the past years; however, advancing appropriate non-valuable metal impetuses to halfway supplant the customary Pt/C impetus is still in progress. In this paper, we propose a specific electrocatalyst in the formula of highly-active Cu species, associated with coated carbon (Cu@C-800), for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) through post-treatment of a self-assembled precursor. The optimized catalyst Cu@C-800 showed excellent ORR performance (i.e., the onset potential was 1.00 V vs. RHE, and half-wave potential of 0.81 V vs. RHE), high stability, resistance to methanol, and high four-electron selectivity. The enhancement is attributed to the synergy between the carbon matrix and a high explicit surface region and rich Cu nano-species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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17 pages, 3928 KiB  
Article
Interfacial Electronic Rearrangement and Synergistic Catalysis for Alkaline Water Splitting in Carbon-Encapsulated Ni (111)/Ni3C (113) Heterostructures
by Xiaoyu Li, Zhenbo Peng, Dongmei Jia, Yikang Wang, Wenbo Wu, Ping Deng, Mengqiu Xu, Xudong Xu, Gan Jia, Wei Ye and Peng Gao
Catalysts 2022, 12(11), 1367; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12111367 - 4 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1906
Abstract
The realization of efficient water electrolysis is still blocked by the requirement for a high and stable driving potential above thermodynamic requirements. An Ni-based electrocatalyst, is a promising alternative for noble-metal-free electrocatalysts but tuning its surface electronic structure and exposing more active sites [...] Read more.
The realization of efficient water electrolysis is still blocked by the requirement for a high and stable driving potential above thermodynamic requirements. An Ni-based electrocatalyst, is a promising alternative for noble-metal-free electrocatalysts but tuning its surface electronic structure and exposing more active sites are the critical challenges to improving its intrinsic catalytic activity. Here, we tackle the challenge by tuning surface electronic structures synergistically with interfacial chemistry and crystal facet engineering, successfully designing and synthesizing the carbon-encapsulated Ni (111)/Ni3C (113) heterojunction electrocatalyst, demonstrating superior hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activities, good stabilities with a small overpotential of −29 mV at 10 mA/cm2, and a low Tafel slope of 59.96 mV/dec in alkaline surroundings, approximating a commercial Pt/C catalyst and outperforming other reported Ni-based catalysts. The heterostructure electrocatalyst operates at 1.55 V and 1.26 V to reach 10 and 1 mA cm−2 in two-electrode measurements for overall alkaline water splitting, corresponding to 79% and 98% electricity-to-fuel conversion efficiency with respect to the lower heating value of hydrogen. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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12 pages, 3150 KiB  
Article
Tailorable Formation of Hierarchical Structure Silica (HMS) and Its Application in Hydrogen Production
by Luming Li, Jie Deng, Zhanglong Guo, Wei Chu and Yan Liu
Catalysts 2022, 12(9), 1061; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12091061 - 17 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1812
Abstract
Relentless endeavors have been committed to seeking simple structure-directing agents for synthesizing hierarchical mesoporous silica (HMS) materials but remaining challenges. In this contribution, we offered an improved one-pot hydrothermal route to prepare HMS materials using a single non-ionic triblock copolymer (F127) structure-directing agent [...] Read more.
Relentless endeavors have been committed to seeking simple structure-directing agents for synthesizing hierarchical mesoporous silica (HMS) materials but remaining challenges. In this contribution, we offered an improved one-pot hydrothermal route to prepare HMS materials using a single non-ionic triblock copolymer (F127) structure-directing agent under a mild polycarboxylic (citric acid) mediated condition. Via studies of key synthetic parameters including acid concentration, crystallization temperature and aging time, it was found that citric acid medium presents an important bridging effect under the optimal concentration from 0.018 M (pH = 2.57) to 1.82 M (pH = 1.09), contributing to the self-assemblage of partially protonated non-ionic triblock copolymer and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) into a high-quality multistage structure of silica materials. The specific surface area (SSA) of HMS shows a volcanic trend and is closely associated with the concentration of citric acid while the highest SSA of 739.9 m2/g can be achieved at the citric concentration of 0.28 M. Moreover, the as-synthesized HMS-CTA supported Ni/CeO2 catalysts indicate an excellent production of hydrogen through dry reforming of methane (DRM) reaction over 172 h stability. The improved, facile synthesis strategy under polycarboxylic medium displays an expanded perspective for synthesizing other mesoporous materials in a wide range of applications such as catalytic material carriers and drug inhibitors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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19 pages, 3762 KiB  
Article
Uniformly Dispersed Cu Nanoparticles over Mesoporous Silica as a Highly Selective and Recyclable Ethanol Dehydrogenation Catalyst
by Yan Hao, Dajie Zhao, Wen Liu, Min Zhang, Yixiao Lou, Zhenzhen Wang, Qinghu Tang and Jinghe Yang
Catalysts 2022, 12(9), 1049; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12091049 - 15 Sep 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3034
Abstract
Selective dehydrogenation of ethanol to acetaldehyde has been considered as an important pathway to produce acetaldehyde due to the atom economy and easy separation of acetaldehyde and hydrogen. Copper catalysts have attracted much attention due to the high activity of Cu species in [...] Read more.
Selective dehydrogenation of ethanol to acetaldehyde has been considered as an important pathway to produce acetaldehyde due to the atom economy and easy separation of acetaldehyde and hydrogen. Copper catalysts have attracted much attention due to the high activity of Cu species in O-H and C-H bonds oxidative cleavage, and low process cost; however, the size of the Cu nanoparticle is difficult to control since it is easily suffers from metal sintering at high temperatures. In this work, the Cu/KIT-6 catalyst exhibited an ultra-high metal dispersion of 62.3% prepared by an electrostatic adsorption method, due to the advantages of the confinement effect of mesoporous nanostructures and the protective effect of ammonia water on Cu nanoparticles. The existence of an oxidation atmosphere had a significant effect on the valence state of copper species and enhancing moderate acid sites. The catalyst treated by reduction and then oxidation possessed a moderate/weak acid site ratio of ~0.42 and a suitable proportion of Cu+/Cu0 ratio of ~0.53, which conceivably rendered its superior ethanol conversion of 96.8% and full acetaldehyde selectivity at 250 °C. The catalyst also maintained a high selectivity of >99% to acetaldehyde upon time-on-stream of 288 h. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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16 pages, 22807 KiB  
Article
Embedding Thiophene-Amide into g-C3N4 Skeleton with Induction and Delocalization Effects for High Photocatalytic H2 Evolution
by Shuang Tang, Yang-Sen Xu and Wei-De Zhang
Catalysts 2022, 12(9), 1043; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12091043 - 14 Sep 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2428
Abstract
Molecular skeleton modification has become a recognized method that can effectively improve the photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 because it not only effectively promotes charge separation, but also tunes the conjugated system of g-C3N4 to make it more [...] Read more.
Molecular skeleton modification has become a recognized method that can effectively improve the photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 because it not only effectively promotes charge separation, but also tunes the conjugated system of g-C3N4 to make it more conducive to photocatalytic reaction. Herein, thiophene-amide embedded g-C3N4 (TA-CN-x) was successfully prepared by simple one-step thermal polycondensation using urea as a precursor and ethyl-2-amino-4-phenylthiophene-3-carboxylate (EAPC) as an additive. After embedding with thiophene-amide, the induction and delocalization effects are formed in TA-CN-x, which significantly improves the migration efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. Meanwhile, the conjugate structure is changed due to structural modification, resulting in significant enhancement of visible light absorption compared to the pure g-C3N4 (CN). Specifically, the optimized photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of TA-CN-2 reaches 245.4 μmol·h−1, which is 8.4 times that of CN (with Pt nanoparticles as a co-catalyst), and the apparent quantum efficiency (AQY) at 450 nm is 13.6%. This work opens up a new modification process for fully tapping the photocatalytic hydrogen absorption potential of g-C3N4-based materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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11 pages, 4000 KiB  
Article
Coupling Interface Construction of Ni(OH)2/MoS2 Composite Electrode for Efficient Alkaline Oxygen Evolution Reaction
by Ge Liu, Xuezhi Ouyang, Xue-Ling Wei, Wei-Wei Bao, Xiao-Hua Feng and Jun-Jun Zhang
Catalysts 2022, 12(9), 966; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12090966 - 29 Aug 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2132
Abstract
The transition metal-based catalysts have excellent electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction catalytic activity in alkaline electrolytes, attracting a significant number of researchers’ attention. Herein, we used two-step hydrothermal and solvothermal methods to prepare a Ni(OH)2/MoS2/NF electrocatalyst. The electrocatalyst displayed outstanding [...] Read more.
The transition metal-based catalysts have excellent electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction catalytic activity in alkaline electrolytes, attracting a significant number of researchers’ attention. Herein, we used two-step hydrothermal and solvothermal methods to prepare a Ni(OH)2/MoS2/NF electrocatalyst. The electrocatalyst displayed outstanding OER activity in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte with lower overpotential (296 mV at 50 mA·cm−2) and remarkable durability. Comprehensive analysis shows that reinforcement of the catalytic function is due to the synergistic effect between Ni(OH)2 and MoS2, which can provide more highly active sites for the catalyst. This also provides a reliable strategy for the application of heterogeneous interface engineering in energy catalysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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11 pages, 1837 KiB  
Article
Effects of Artificial River Water on PEM Water Electrolysis Performance
by Ryoya Yoshimura, SoeHtet Wai, Yasuyuki Ota, Kensuke Nishioka and Yoshihiro Suzuki
Catalysts 2022, 12(9), 934; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12090934 - 24 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4600
Abstract
Hydrogen, a clean and renewable energy source, is a promising substitute for fossil fuels. Electricity-driven water electrolysis is an attractive pathway for clean hydrogen production. Accordingly, the development of electrolysis cells has drawn researchers’ attention to capital costs related to noble catalyst reduction [...] Read more.
Hydrogen, a clean and renewable energy source, is a promising substitute for fossil fuels. Electricity-driven water electrolysis is an attractive pathway for clean hydrogen production. Accordingly, the development of electrolysis cells has drawn researchers’ attention to capital costs related to noble catalyst reduction and membrane degradation by the contaminations. In the literature, polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) have been studied on single cations contamination. In this study, we investigated the performance of a PEM on monovalent and divalent cation contamination by feed water. Artificial river water, called soft water, was used to analyze the effect of impurities on the PEM. The results demonstrated that the operating voltage drastically increased and induced cell failure with increasing Mg2+ and Ca2+ concentrations; however, it did not increase for Na+ and K+ after increase in voltage. Therefore, divalent cations have a stronger affinity than monovalent cations to degrade PEM and should be effectively excluded from the feed water. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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13 pages, 3709 KiB  
Article
Vanadium Nitride Supported on N-Doped Carbon as High-Performance ORR Catalysts for Zn–Air Batteries
by Yidan Fu, Lina Han, Pengfei Zheng, Xianhui Peng, Xianglan Xian, Jinglin Liu, Xiaoyuan Zeng, Peng Dong, Jie Xiao and Yingjie Zhang
Catalysts 2022, 12(8), 877; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12080877 - 9 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2273
Abstract
It is desirable to prepare low-cost non-noble metal catalysts using a simple and efficient method. Herein, we display for the first time that nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon-supported vanadium nitride (VN/NC/C-x) catalysts can be regulated by dicyandiamide (DCDA). The introduction of DCDA not only [...] Read more.
It is desirable to prepare low-cost non-noble metal catalysts using a simple and efficient method. Herein, we display for the first time that nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon-supported vanadium nitride (VN/NC/C-x) catalysts can be regulated by dicyandiamide (DCDA). The introduction of DCDA not only effectively controls the pore structure, but also plays an important role in adjusting oxygen vacancies and d-electrons. In addition, DCDA is not only a significant raw material for the N-doped carbon, but also a nitrogen source for the preparation of vanadium nitride. The VN/NC/C-3 catalyst was prepared after optimization of the preparation parameters, and the macro/micro structure demonstrates a superior ORR performance in alkaline media with a positive onset potential of 0.85 V and a half-wave potential of 0.75 V, the limiting current density is as high as 4.52 mA·cm−2, and the Tafel slope is only 75.54 mV·dec−1. The VN/NC/C-3-based Zn–air battery exhibits a highest peak power density (161.82 mW∙cm−2) and an excellent energy density (702.28 mAh·kgZn−1 and 861.51 Wh·kgZn−1). This work provides a valuable synthetic approach for the preparation of other transition metal nitride catalysts with a relative economic value and high performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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9 pages, 1916 KiB  
Article
Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction Coupled with Alcohol Oxidation over Porous Carbon Nitride
by Chuntian Qiu, Shan Wang, Jiandong Zuo and Bing Zhang
Catalysts 2022, 12(6), 672; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12060672 - 20 Jun 2022
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2666
Abstract
The photocatalytic transformation of CO2 to valuable man-made feedstocks is a promising method for balancing the carbon cycle; however, it is often hampered by the consumption of extra hole scavengers. Here, a synergistic redox system using photogenerated electron-hole pairs was constructed by [...] Read more.
The photocatalytic transformation of CO2 to valuable man-made feedstocks is a promising method for balancing the carbon cycle; however, it is often hampered by the consumption of extra hole scavengers. Here, a synergistic redox system using photogenerated electron-hole pairs was constructed by employing a porous carbon nitride with many cyanide groups as a metal-free photocatalyst. Selective CO2 reduction to CO using photogenerated electrons was achieved under mild conditions; simultaneously, various alcohols were effectively oxidized to value-added aldehydes using holes. The results showed that thermal calcination process using ammonium sulfate as porogen contributes to the construction of a porous structure. As-obtained cyanide groups can facilitate charge carrier separation and promote moderate CO2 adsorption. Electron-donating groups in alcohols could enhance the activity via a faster hydrogen-donating process. This concerted photocatalytic system that synergistically utilizes electron-hole pairs upon light excitation contributes to the construction of cost-effective and multifunctional photocatalytic systems for selective CO2 reduction and artificial photosynthesis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Catalysts for Achieving Hydrogen Economy from Liquids)
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