Electrooxidation of ethylene glycol coupled with hydrogen production on porous Cu/F-Ni3S2@ NF electrocatalysts
Electrooxidation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-derived ethylene glycol (EG) provides a promising strategy to couple plastic waste valorization with energy-efficient hydrogen production.Replacing the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with the ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) can significantly reduce the cell voltage required for water splitting while simultaneously generating value-added chemicals. In this study, we report a high-efficiency electrocatalytic EGOR system based on heterostructured Cu/F-Ni₃S₂@NF electrodes, in which the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is effectively replaced by EGOR, enabling the simultaneous co-production of value-added formate and hydrogen. Benefiting from the optimized electronic structure and synergistic effects at the heterostructure interface, the Cu/F-Ni₃S₂@NF catalyst delivers an outstanding EGOR performance, requiring only 1.44 V vs RHE to reach a current density of 100 mA/cm². Moreover, a high current density of 325 mA/cm² is achieved at 1.60 V vs RHE, representing nearly a three-fold enhancement compared to bare nickel foam (114 mA/cm 2 ). Notably, the Cu/F-Ni₃S₂@NF catalyst achieves an outstanding Faradaic efficiency of 96.91% toward formate during EGOR, while maintaining a formate FE of 93% in the integrated EGOR-HER system, enabling efficient hydrogen generation at the cathode. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Cu incorporation optimizes the electronic structure of Ni₃S₂ and enhances the activity of the NiOOH's active surface. This work presents a rational strategy for designing copper-nickel sulfide electrocatalysts for energy-efficient hydrogen production coupled with value-added formate synthesis.
The low-symmetry mesoporous titanium dioxide (lsm-TiO2) for use in an electrode for direct sensing of hydroxide ions may be prepared by evaporation-induced self-assembly followed by two stages of…
A titanium substrate includes TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) uniformly distributed thereon, wherein the TiO2 nanotubes are doped with ZrO2 and Fe2O3. The presence of both ZrO2 and Fe2O3 on TNTs arrays…
Electrooxidation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-derived ethylene glycol (EG) provides a promising strategy to couple plastic waste valorization with energy-efficient hydrogen production…