光电解水制氢耦合生物质醇/醛氧化的研究进展

生物质醇/醛是一类重要的生物基平台化合物, 通过催化氧化重整可将其进一步转化为高值含氧化学品或燃料. 太阳能驱动的光电催化技术是实现生物质醇/醛氧化最为绿色高效的途径之一. 与传统光电解水制氢相比, 利用生物质醇/醛氧化来替代阳极析氧过程不仅可以提高阳极产物的附加值, 同时可以提升太阳能到氢能的转化效率. 因此, 光电解水制氢耦合生物质醇/醛氧化对绿氢提效降本和高值化学品合成具有重要意义. 本文综合评述了光电解水制氢耦合生物质醇/醛的氧化反应机理, 总结了目前光电催化技术在生物质醇/醛氧化方面的研究进展, 最后对该领域所面临的机遇和挑战进行了展望.     

太阳能光催化分解水制氢※

利用太阳能光催化分解水制氢是解决能源环境问题并实现太阳能有效转化和储存最有前途的技术之一, 这一“圣杯”式反应经过几十年不懈努力取得了诸多重要研究进展. 本文将综述光催化分解水制氢体系的基本概念、活性测试方法与注意事项、光催化材料种类等; 并从光催化分解水制氢的光吸收、光生电荷分离和表面催化反应等基本过程和关键科学问题的角度总结其重要研究进展, 最后对于太阳能光催化分解水制氢的挑战和潜在的发展方向进行分析和展望. 希望通过本综述的简要介绍能让刚从事光催化分解水制氢研究的青年科技人员清晰地了解掌握该领域的一些基本概念、操作规范、研究总体进展和现状等.     

Comprehensive and High-throughput Electrolysis of Water and Urea by 3–5 nm Nickel and Copper Coordination Polymers

Metal-organic coordination polymers (CP) have attracted the scientific attention for electrochemical water oxidation as it has the similar coordination structure like natural photosynthetic coordinated complex. However, the harsh synthesis conditions and bulky nature pose a major challenge in the field of catalysis. Herein, 3–5 nm CP particles synthesized at room temperature using aqueous solutions of Ni²⁺/Cu²⁺ and 2,5-dihydroxyterepthalic acid as precursor were applied for alkaline water and urea electrolysis. The overpotential required is only 300 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² by Nano-Ni CP for water oxidation, with turnover frequency (TOF) of 21.4 s⁻¹ which is around 8 times higher than its bulk-counterpart. Overall water and urea splitting were achieved with Nano-Cu (−) ∥ Nano-Ni (+) couple on Ni foam at 1.69 and 1.52 V to achieve 10 mA cm⁻², respectively. High electrochemical surface area (ECSA), high TOF, and enhanced mass diffusion are found to be the key parameters responsible for the state-of-the-art water and urea splitting performances of nano-CPs as compared to their bulk counterparts.     

Photochemical Hydrogen Evolution at Metal Centers Probed with Hydrated Aluminium Cations,Al+(H2O)n,n=1–10

Hydrated aluminium cations have been investigated as a photochemical model system with up to ten water molecules by UV action spectroscopy in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer. Intense photodissociation was observed starting at 4.5 eV for two to eight water molecules with loss of atomic hydrogen, molecular hydrogen and water molecules. Quantum chemical calculations for n=2 reveal that solvation shifts the intense 3s–3p excitations of Al⁺ into the investigated photon energy range below 5.5 eV. During the photochemical relaxation, internal conversion from S₁ to T₂ takes place, and photochemical hydrogen formation starts on the T₂ surface, which passes through a conical intersection, changing to T₁. On this triplet surface, the electron that was excited to the Al 3p orbital is transferred to a coordinated water molecule, which dissociates into a hydroxide ion and a hydrogen atom. If the system remains in the triplet state, this hydrogen radical is lost directly. If the system returns to singlet multiplicity, the reaction may be reversed, with recombination with the hydroxide moiety and electron transfer back to aluminium, resulting in water evaporation. Alternatively, the hydrogen radical can attack the intact water molecule, forming molecular hydrogen and aluminium dihydroxide. Photodissociation is observed for up to n=8. Clusters with n=9 or 10 occur exclusively as HAlOH⁺(H₂O)_n-1 and are transparent in the investigated energy range. For n=4–8, a mixture of Al⁺(H₂O)_n and HAlOH⁺(H₂O)_n-1 is present in the experiment.     

Transition metal-based electrocatalysts for overall water splitting

Electrochemical overall water splitting is attracting a broad focus as a promising strategy for converting the electrical output of renewable resources into chemical fuels, specifically oxygen and hydrogen. However, the urgent challenge in water electrolysis is to search for low-cost, high-efficiency catalysts based on earth-abundant elements as an alternative to the high-cost but effective noble metal-based catalysts. The transition metal-based catalysts are more appealing than the noble metal catalysts because of its low cost, high performance and long stability. Some recent advances for the development in overall water splitting are reviewed in terms of transition metal-based oxides, carbides, phosphides, sulfides, and hybrids of their mixtures as hybrid bifunctional electrocatalysts. Concentrating on different catalytic mechanisms, recent advances in their structural design, controllable synthesis, mechanistic insight, and performance-enhancing strategies are proposed. The challenges and prospects for the future development of transition metal-based bifunctional electrocatalysts are also addressed.     

Rational Design and Application of Covalent Organic Frameworks for Solar Fuel Production

Harnessing solar energy and converting it into renewable fuels by chemical processes, such as water splitting and carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction, is a highly promising yet challenging strategy to mitigate the effects arising from the global energy crisis and serious environmental concerns. In recent years, covalent organic framework (COF)-based materials have gained substantial research interest because of their diversified architecture, tunable composition, large surface area, and high thermal and chemical stability. Their tunable band structure and significant light absorption with higher charge separation efficiency of photoinduced carriers make them suitable candidates for photocatalytic applications in hydrogen (H₂) generation, CO₂ conversion, and various organic transformation reactions. In this article, we describe the recent progress in the topology design and synthesis method of COF-based nanomaterials by elucidating the structure-property correlations for photocatalytic hydrogen generation and CO₂ reduction applications. The effect of using various kinds of 2D and 3D COFs and strategies to control the morphology and enhance the photocatalytic activity is also summarized. Finally, the key challenges and perspectives in the field are highlighted for the future development of highly efficient COF-based photocatalysts.     

Insights on the Electrocatalytic Seawater Splitting at Heterogeneous Nickel-Cobalt Based Electrocatalysts Engineered from Oxidative Aniline Polymerization and Calcination

Given the limited access to freshwater compared to seawater, a growing interest surrounds the direct seawater electrolysis to produce hydrogen. However, we currently lack efficient electrocatalysts to selectively perform the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) over the oxidation of the chloride ions that are the main components of seawater. In this contribution, we report an engineering strategy to synthesize heterogeneous electrocatalysts by the simultaneous formation of separate chalcogenides of nickel (NiS_x, x = 0, 2/3, 8/9, and 4/3) and cobalt (CoS_x, x = 0 and 8/9) onto a carbon-nitrogen-sulfur nanostructured network. Specifically, the oxidative aniline polymerization in the presence of metallic cations was combined with the calcination to regulate the separate formation of various self-supported phases in order to target the multifunctional applicability as both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and OER in a simulated alkaline seawater. The OER’s metric current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm⁻² were achieved at the bimetallic for only 1.60 and 1.63 V_RHE, respectively. This high-performance was maintained in the electrolysis with a starting voltage of 1.6 V and satisfactory stability at 100 mA over 17 h. Our findings validate a high selectivity for OER of ~100%, which outperforms the previously reported data of 87–95%.     

Band splitting in overloaded isocratic elution chromatography I. The experimental evidence

A series of samples of increasing volume (from 0.001 to 4.0 cm3), containing the same constant concentration (40 g/l) of two simple compounds, ethylbenzoate and 4-tert.-butylphenol were injected on a Kromasil-C18 column with methanol-water (62:38. v/v) as the mobile phase. Complex band profiles were observed when the volume of the sample became large enough and strong band interference took place. The analysis of the fractions collected during the elution of the mixed band demonstrates that, for samples larger than 2 cm3, the band of 4-tert.-butylphenol is split into two separate bands, one eluted before and the other eluted after the band of ethylbenzoate. Such a phenomenon has never been observed yet in RPLC, under isocratic elution conditions.     

在紫外和可见光下具有高催化活性的珊瑚状金红石型二氧化钛的制备

采用溶剂热法在二乙二醇溶液中制备了珊瑚状的金红石二氧化钛(Rut-dg)。扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和X射线衍射(XRD)表明样品呈均匀分散的球形颗粒,直径约为1μm,表面具有珊瑚状的突起结构,半径约10 nm。氮气吸附-脱附结果表明样品比表面达到228 m2·g-1,是商品金红石的7倍多。由于其特殊的形貌,Rut-dg在紫外光下的催化产氢量达到25 000μmol·g-1·h-1,比P25高出50%,是商品金红石活性的13倍。在可见光下的产氢量为270μmol·g-1·h-1,而P25和商品金红石则没有明显活性。进一步实验表明,Rut-dg样品表面检测不到可能引起活性增加的有机杂质存在,因此,珊瑚状的形貌是影响活性的重要因素。样品在300℃焙烧后,珊瑚状表面结构明显烧结,比表面下降了50%,导致产氢量下降了15%～25%,这也说明珊瑚状结构大大促进了光催化产氢活性的提高。     

二氧化钛包裹金纳米棒核壳材料的制备及其光解水制氢

利用溶胶凝胶法制备了金纳米棒(GNR)与TiO₂的核壳结构复合材料--GNR@TiO₂,粒径为200 nm左右。 经水热晶化后的材料粒径为300 nm左右,GNR形貌和局域表面等离子共振(LSPR)峰保持稳定,其外边包裹着树枝状的锐钛矿相TiO₂壳层。 采用X射线衍射(XRD)、高分辨透射电子显微镜(HRTEM)、X射线光电子能谱分析(XPS)、紫外可见吸收光谱、光催化制氢性能等技术手段测试表征了样品的结构及性能。 结果表明,晶化后的GNR@TiO₂在可见光范围内制氢速率为31.0 μmol/(g·h),相较与晶化前7.3 μmol/(g·h)得到了明显提升。 最后结合实验结果和时域有限差分(FDTD)分析了催化产氢机理:LSPR促进了可见光吸收,锐钛矿TiO₂对电场的增强促进了光生电子-空穴分离,同时晶化后的TiO₂壳层疏松多介孔,增加了活性位点,有利于传质。