Self-powered H2 production with bifunctional hydrazine as sole consumable.

ABSTRACT: Splitting hydrazine into H2 and N2 by electro-catalyzing hydrogen evolution and hydrazine oxidation reactions is promising for replacing fossil energy with H2. However, current hydrazine splitting is achieved using external powers to drive the two reactions, which is inapplicable to outdoor use. Here, Fe-doped CoS2 nanosheets are developed as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for the two reactions, by which direct hydrazine fuel cells and overall-hydrazine-splitting units are realized and integrated to form a self-powered H2 production system. Without external powers, this system employs hydrazine bifunctionally as the fuel of direct hydrazine fuel cell and the splitting target, namely a sole consumable, and exhibits an H2 evolution rate of 9.95?mmol?h-1, a 98% Faradaic efficiency and a 20-h stability, all comparable to the best reported for self-powered water splitting. These performances are due to that Fe doping decreases the free-energy changes of H adsorption and adsorbed NH2NH2 dehydrogenation on CoS2.

SUBMITTER: Liu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6195518 | biostudies-other | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other