Electrolyte-assisted polarization leading to enhanced charge separation and solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of seawater splitting
Electrolyte-assisted polarization leading to enhanced charge separation and solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of seawater splitting
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DOI：
10.1038/s41929-023-01069-1
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发表时间：
2024-01
期刊：
影响因子：
37.8
通讯作者：
Yiyang Li;Hui Zhou;Songhua Cai;D. Prabhakaran;Wentian Niu;A. Large;Georg Held;Robert A Taylor-Robert
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Yiyang Li;Hui Zhou;Songhua Cai;D. Prabhakaran;Wentian Niu;A. Large;Georg Held;Robert A Taylor-Robert
近年来，光催化裂解海水制氢技术引起了人们的广泛关注。然而，光催化剂在盐环境中的能量转换效率和稳定性差，极大地阻碍了该技术的进一步应用。此外，海水中电解质的影响仍然存在争议。在这里，我们提出了电解质辅助的电荷极化在N掺杂的TiO 2光催化剂，这表明了化学计量的演变H2和O2从热助光催化分解海水。我们广泛的表征和计算研究表明，海水中的离子物种可以选择性地吸附在相反电荷的光极化面上，这可以将电荷载流子寿命延长五倍，从而在270 °C下实现15.9 ± 0.4%的总能量转换效率。使用光浓缩炉，稳定的析氢速率为40 mmol g−1h− 1，与实验室规模的电解槽具有相同的数量级。
Photocatalytic splitting of seawater for hydrogen evolution has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. However, the poor energy conversion efficiency and stability of photocatalysts in a salty environment have greatly hindered further applications of this technology. Moreover, the effects of electrolytes in seawater remain controversial. Here we present electrolyte-assisted charge polarization over an N-doped TiO2photocatalyst, which demonstrates the stoichiometric evolution of H2and O2from the thermo-assisted photocatalytic splitting of seawater. Our extensive characterizations and computational studies show that ionic species in seawater can selectively adsorb on photo-polarized facets of the opposite charge, which can prolong the charge-carrier lifetime by a factor of five, leading to an overall energy conversion efficiency of 15.9 ± 0.4% at 270 °C. Using a light-concentrated furnace, a steady hydrogen evolution rate of 40 mmol g−1h−1is demonstrated, which is of the same order of magnitude as laboratory-scale electrolysers.