Supported MoTe2: proving the viability of a 2D material to be employed in the PEM flow cell for the hydrogen production

气候变化和能源不安全是人类面临的两大挑战。假设我们可以利用大自然丰富的更强大的力量，比如风和太阳，来减轻这种压力。我们可以让它发挥作用，但适应可再生电力将带来间歇性的挑战。当太阳不照耀，风不吹时，我们该怎么办？我们可以通过水电解产生绿色氢来解决这个问题，以管理电力生产的高峰和低谷。我们可以通过储存氢气储备，并在重型运输、家庭或工业供暖和化学原料需要时重新利用它们，使其发挥作用。在这个方向上取得实质性进展将阻止全球变暖，并使我们摆脱对化石燃料的依赖。电解槽是用于水分解的设备，当与可再生能源结合使用时，它们可能是制造绿色氢的最先进的解决方案。虽然工业电解槽的设计已经取得了重大进展；有效的紧凑型系统准备动态响应，并能够与可再生能源（如太阳能）串联部署仍然有限。最先进的技术仍然面临着依赖昂贵的贵金属催化剂的严重缺陷，但如果我们创造出几纳米厚的具有丰富活性位点的层来催化表面的析氢反应呢？我们可以通过使用二维材料来做到这一点，这种材料由地球上丰富的元素组成，本质上容易形成原子平的薄层。该项目由化学家和工程师组成，将探索在二维材料MoTe2上高效实用的制氢方法。MoTe2的独特之处在于其表面具有丰富的催化位点。当支撑在高表面积的衬底上并与质子交换膜层压在一起时，它将在流动电池内的膜电极组件中充当阴极，通过水分裂产生氢气。因此，拟议的研究旨在创建基于二维材料的电解槽的第一个原型。这项工作的成功将展示一种创新的解决方案，通过在高表面积的衬底上获取MoTe2来生产一种高度稳定和坚固的2D催化剂，用于腐蚀性环境。这将允许进一步探索其在大规模提供绿色氢方面的应用。

Climate change and energy insecurity are two great challenges facing humankind. Suppose we can mitigate it by benefiting from the greater powers of nature which are in abundance such as wind and sun. We can make it work but adapting renewable electricity will bring intermittency challenge. What do we do when the sun does not shine, and the wind does not blow? We can solve it by generating green hydrogen by water electrolysis to manage the peaks and troughs in electricity production. We can make it work by stock-piling hydrogen reserves and re-utilising them when needed for heavy transport, domestic or industrial heating and chemical feedstock. Substantial progress in this direction would prevent the global warming and divert us from the reliance on fossil fuels.Electrolysers are devices for water splitting and they are probably the most advanced solution for creating green hydrogen when coupled with renewable energy sources. Although there has been a significant progress in the design of industrial electrolysers; effective compact systems ready for dynamic response and capable of being deployed in tandem with renewable energy sources such as solar are still limited. The state-of-the-art technologies are still facing serious drawbacks by relying on expensive noble metal catalysts but what if we created few nanometers thick layers with abundance of active sites to catalyse the hydrogen evolution reaction at the surface? We can do it by using 2D materials that consist of earth-abundant elements and intrinsically prone to forming atomically-flat thin layers.Delivered by a team of chemists and engineers the project will explore efficient and practical ways towards hydrogen production on MoTe2 which is a 2D material. The unique feature of MoTe2 is the abundance of catalytic sites at the surface. When supported on a high surface area substrate and laminated to proton exchange membrane it will act as cathode in the membrane electrode assembly within a flow cell that will generate hydrogen by water splitting. As such, the proposed research aims to create the first prototype of an electrolyser that works based on a 2D material. Success in this work would demonstrate an innovative solution by accessing MoTe2 on high surface area substrates to produce a highly stable and robust form of 2D catalyst for application in corrosive environments. This will allow further exploration of its use in delivering green hydrogen at scale.