Innovative Strategy on Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Utilizing Activated Liquid Water

Abstract

Splitting water for hydrogen production using light, or electrical energy, is the most developed ‘green technique’. For increasing efficiency in hydrogen production, currently, the most exciting and thriving strategies are focused on efficient and inexpensive catalysts. Here, we report an innovative idea for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) utilizing plasmon-activated liquid water with reduced hydrogen-bonded structure by hot electron transfer. This strategy is effective for all HERs in acidic, basic and neutral systems, photocatalytic system with a g-C3N4 (graphite carbon nitride) electrode, as well as in an inert system with an ITO (indium tin oxide) electrode. Compared to deionized water, the efficiency of HER increases by 48% based on activated water ex situ on a Pt electrode. Increase in energy efficiency from activated water is 18% at a specific current yield of −20 mA in situ on a nanoscale-granulated Au electrode. Moreover, the onset potential of −0.023 V vs RHE was very close to the thermodynamic potential of the HER (0 V). The measured current density at the corresponding overpotential for HER in an acidic system was higher than any data previously reported in the literature. This approach establishes a new vista in clean green energy production.

Therapeutics for Inflammatory-Related Diseases Based on Plasmon-Activated Water: A Review

“…On the other hand, our group proposed an innovative method to create plasmon-activated water (PAW), which is prepared by treating deionized (DI) water with resonantly excited AuNPs [ 23 , 65 , 66 ]. Recently, the PAW-related papers, which are innovatively applicable in variously fields, are continuously published in our group [ 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ]. Compared to DI water, the created additive-free PAW shows lower specific heat and boiling point [ 66 ], higher vapor pressure and osmosis [ 23 ], novel antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties [ 23 , 67 ], and higher solubility and diffusion to solutes [ 23 , 65 , 67 ].…”

“…Compared to DI water, the created additive-free PAW shows lower specific heat and boiling point [ 66 ], higher vapor pressure and osmosis [ 23 ], novel antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties [ 23 , 67 ], and higher solubility and diffusion to solutes [ 23 , 65 , 67 ]. Based on these distinct properties, PAW can be served as source of green energy for improving the efficiencies of productions of hydrogen and oxygen via water splitting [ 65 , 69 , 72 ]. In green chemistry, PAW can be employed as a green reductant for production of AuNPs and AgNPs from their individual ions [ 66 , 67 ].…”

Metagenomics Meets Electrochemistry: Utilizing the Huge Catalytic Potential From the Uncultured Microbial Majority for Energy-Storage

“…To put the numbers in a broader perspective, the absolute current density values recorded here are certainly not comparable with those obtained in industrial electrolyzers of either the PEM (acidic) or alkaline type. However, even noble metal catalysts only reach current densities on the same order of magnitude as reported here if used in our mild, pH-neutral conditions (Hwang et al, 2015). The inherent safety of a pH 7 operation is crucial to decentralized, small-scale applications for individual consumer markets and thus represents another advantage of the hydrogenase-based system compared to the hitherto applied industrial electrolyzers that are typically operated at pH 0 or 14.…”

Strategy on Persisting in Distinct Activity of Plasmon-Activated Water

“…26−35 However, the activity of the resulting metastable PAW decayed after its creation for a couple of days. 24,25,28 For expanding convenience in application of PAW, an innovative strategy on persisting PAW’s distinct activities is proposed by utilizing quickly freezing and melting methods in this work. The distinct properties and anti-oxidative activity, as compared to bulk water, of as-prepared and aged PAW are compared to each other in detail.…”