A comprehensive review of carbon and hydrocarbon assisted water electrolysis for hydrogen production

Ju, HyungKuk; Badwal, S. P. S.; Giddey, Sarbjit

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.09.125

Cited by 212 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 160 publications

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“…Conventional water electrolysis usually utilizes transition metal catalysts and diaphragms in alkaline electrolytes (alkaline water electrolysis, AWE) or noble metal catalysts and a proton exchange membrane in acidic media (PEM water electrolysis) [ 57 , 58 ].…”

Section: Two-electrode Electrolysis Of Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Splitting: From Electrode to Green Energy System

et al. 2020

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HIGHLIGHTS • Bifunctional electrode and electrolytic cell configuration for electrochemical water splitting are reviewed. • The different green energy systems powered water splitting are summarized and discussed. • An outlook of future research prospects for the development of green energy system powered water splitting in practical application process is proposed. ABSTRACT Hydrogen (H 2) production is a latent feasibility of renewable clean energy. The industrial H 2 production is obtained from reforming of natural gas, which consumes a large amount of nonrenewable energy and simultaneously produces greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Electrochemical water splitting is a promising approach for the H 2 production, which is sustainable and pollution-free. Therefore, developing efficient and economic technologies for electrochemical water splitting has been an important goal for researchers around the world. The utilization of green energy systems to reduce overall energy consumption is more important for H 2 production. Harvesting and converting energy from the environment by different green energy systems for water splitting can efficiently decrease the external power consumption. A variety of green energy systems for efficient producing H 2 , such as two-electrode electrolysis of water, water splitting driven by photoelectrode devices, solar cells, thermoelectric devices, triboelectric nanogenerator, pyroelectric device or electrochemical water-gas shift device, have been developed recently. In this review, some notable progress made in the different green energy cells for water splitting is discussed in detail. We hoped this review can guide people to pay more attention to the development of green energy system to generate pollution-free H 2 energy, which will realize the whole process of H 2 production with low cost, pollution-free and energy sustainability conversion.

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Section: Two-electrode Electrolysis Of Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Splitting: From Electrode to Green Energy System

et al. 2020

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“…The lower current densities of alkaline water electrolyzers has been considered their main drawback compared to PEM electrolyzers. [20,88,89] The higher current density achieved with the Ni MF suggests it can achieve a better balance of surface area and bubble removal ability compared to the electrode structures (e.g. perforated plates or mesh) currently used in commercial alkaline water electrolyzers, [90] and allow them to achieve higher current densities than PEM electrolyzers.…”

Section: Maximum Productivity Of Alkaline Water Electrolysis With Ni Microfiber Feltsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alkaline Water Electrolysis at 25 A cm⁻² with a Microfibrous Flow‐through Electrode

Yang

Kim

Brown

et al. 2020

Advanced Energy Materials

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The generation of renewable electricity is variable, leading to periodic oversupply. Excess power can be converted to hydrogen via water electrolysis, but the conversion cost is currently too high. One way to decrease the cost of electrolysis is to increase the maximum productivity of electrolyzers. This study investigated how nano-and microstructured porous electrodes could improve the productivity of hydrogen generation in a zero-gap, flow-through alkaline water electrolyzer. Three nickel electrodesfoam, microfiber felt, and nanowire felt-were studied to examine the tradeoff between surface area and pore structure on the performance of alkaline electrolyzers. Although the nanowire felt with the highest surface area initially provided the highest performance, this performance quickly decreased as gas bubbles were trapped within the electrode. The open structure of the foam facilitated bubble removal, but its small surface area limited its maximum performance. The microfiber felt exhibited the best performance because it balanced high surface area with the ability to remove bubbles. The microfiber felt maintained a maximum current density of 25,000 mA cm -2 over 100 hrs without degradation, which corresponds to a hydrogen production rate 12.5-and 50-times greater than conventional proton-exchange membrane and alkaline electrolyzers, respectively.Flow-through alkaline electrolysis with a Ni microfiber felt improved the maximum H 2 production rate by 50 times relative to conventional alkaline electrolyzers. Compared to Ni-Cu nanowires and Ni foam, Ni microfiber felt provided the most surface area for water splitting without blocking the removal of gas bubbles.

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“…2) takes place. These electrodes are typically separated by a polymer electrolyte membrane, which conducts protons and acts as an insulator 3,5 .…”

Section: Demonstration Of Coppix-silk Catalyst In a Proton Exchange Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering a solid-state metalloprotein hydrogen evolution catalyst

Rapson

Marshall

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role in decarbonising our energy systems. Crucial to achieving this is the ability to produce clean sources of hydrogen using renewable energy sources. Currently platinum is commonly used as a hydrogen evolution catalyst, however, the scarcity and expense of platinum is driving the need to develop non-platinum-based catalysts. Here we report a protein-based hydrogen evolution catalyst based on a recombinant silk protein from honeybees and a metal macrocycle, cobalt protoporphyrin (CoPPIX). We enhanced the hydrogen evolution activity three fold compared to the unmodified silk protein by varying the coordinating ligands to the metal centre. Finally, to demonstrate the use of our biological catalyst, we built a proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis cell using CoPPIX-silk as the hydrogen evolution catalyst that is able to produce hydrogen with a 98% Faradaic efficiency. This represents an exciting advance towards allowing proteinbased catalysts to be used in electrolysis cells. Hydrogen is a valuable commodity currently necessary for fertiliser production, in petroleum refining and in chemical and metallurgical industries. The combustion of hydrogen proceeds with higher efficiency than that of other fuels, and has the added advantage that water is the only reaction product. Consequently, hydrogen is being recognised as an important energy carrier 1 , for power generation in internal combustion engines, gas turbines and fuel cells and to enrich natural gas networks 2. Around 60 million tonnes per annum of hydrogen is currently produced primarily by natural gas reforming or coal gasification processes. Carbon dioxide is an unavoidable by-product of these processes 3,4. Therefore carbon capture and storage would need to be added to the process to make it carbon neutral 2. Water electrolysis is the conversion of water to oxygen (O 2) and hydrogen (H 2) due to the passage of an electric current. An important advantage of water electrolysis is that the process can be powered by renewable energy, thereby allowing clean hydrogen production. Currently, economic issues limit the portion of global hydrogen production via water electrolysis to ~4% 4,5. There are other alternatives for hydrogen production such as photocatalytic water splitting 6 and microbial electrolysis cells 7 , however, these are still in the research stages of development. Water electrolysis requires hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts to convert protons into H 2. Currently noble metal catalysts (i.e. platinum group metals) are used as HER catalysts to achieve high hydrogen production rates through the minimization of electrode overpotential to maintain sustained performance and durability 5. In practice, high catalyst loadings are required in the cells to achieve low cell voltages at high current densities and prolonged lifetime of the cells. There is a worldwide R&D effort to reduce or eliminate the use of platinum in the cells by exploring non-noble metals as catalysts 8,9. To this end ca...

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A comprehensive review of carbon and hydrocarbon assisted water electrolysis for hydrogen production

Cited by 212 publications

References 160 publications

Water Splitting: From Electrode to Green Energy System

Water Splitting: From Electrode to Green Energy System

Alkaline Water Electrolysis at 25 A cm⁻² with a Microfibrous Flow‐through Electrode

Engineering a solid-state metalloprotein hydrogen evolution catalyst

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A comprehensive review of carbon and hydrocarbon assisted water electrolysis for hydrogen production

Cited by 212 publications

References 160 publications

Water Splitting: From Electrode to Green Energy System

Water Splitting: From Electrode to Green Energy System

Alkaline Water Electrolysis at 25 A cm−2 with a Microfibrous Flow‐through Electrode

Engineering a solid-state metalloprotein hydrogen evolution catalyst

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Product

Resources

About

Alkaline Water Electrolysis at 25 A cm⁻² with a Microfibrous Flow‐through Electrode