Shielded goethite catalyst that enables fast water dissociation in bipolar membranes.

ABSTRACT: Optimal pH conditions for efficient artificial photosynthesis, hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions, and photoreduction of carbon dioxide are now successfully achievable with catalytic bipolar membranes-integrated water dissociation and in-situ acid-base generations. However, inefficiency and instability are severe issues in state-of-the-art membranes, which need to urgently resolve with systematic membrane designs and innovative, inexpensive junctional catalysts. Here we show a shielding and in-situ formation strategy of fully-interconnected earth-abundant goethite Fe⁺³O(OH) catalyst, which lowers the activation energy barrier from 5.15 to 1.06?eV per HO?-?H bond and fabricates energy-efficient, cost-effective, and durable shielded catalytic bipolar membranes. Small water dissociation voltages at limiting current density (U_LCD: 0.8?V) and 100?mA?cm^-2 (U₁₀₀: 1.1?V), outstanding cyclic stability at 637?mA?cm^-2, long-time electro-stability, and fast acid-base generations (H₂SO₄: 3.9?±?0.19 and NaOH: 4.4?±?0.21?M?m^-2 min^-1 at 100?mA?cm^-2) infer confident potential use of the novel bipolar membranes in emerging sustainable technologies.

SUBMITTER: Shehzad MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7782813 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature