Sustainable Oxidation Catalysts for the Production of Solar Hydrogen and Chlorine from Brine

该项目的主要目标是生产新的、可持续的氧化催化剂，以创建高效的无线、光电二极管、太阳能到化学能量转换设备，用于卤水/海水的分解。在盐水、氢气、碱和Cl2(或氢气和次氯酸钠)中，NaOCl将被分离出来。氢将被储存起来，以便在以后提供热量(通过燃烧)，或者用于发电(通过H2/O2燃料电池)。氧化后的氯化物将以Cl2或次氯酸盐的形式储存，以提供对水进行氯化的途径，或提供消毒剂。该计划将产生廉价的示威器，这些示威器可以很容易地扩大到家庭中使用--也就是说，在“个性化”的能源和消毒剂规模上。这种系统特别适合在发展中国家使用，尽管随后大规模开发的系统--包括太阳能发电场--将使这些有价值的、可储存的化学产品的生产达到适合城镇和/或当地工业广泛使用的水平。后一个规模扩大的系统将形成随后的第二个后续阶段、行业主导的发展工作计划的基础，而这里描述的第一阶段项目将专注于概念验证和可扩展演示的初步创建。在该项目中开发的拟议的新型ClOCs将使用廉价、丰富的纳米材料(如：锰、镍或钴的氧化物)，尽管在某些情况下，这些材料将掺入分散良好、活性高得多但不那么丰富的物质，如二氧化Ru。这些纳米材料还将被涂覆在高比表面积的导电碳上，这将使它们能够部分被支撑和活性。一种新的组合方法，使用高通量连续水热流合成，Hitch，以及较小程度的其他电化学和光化学合成方法，将被用于生产广泛的氧化催化剂。将使用新颖的、基于颜色的快速筛选方法对它们的活动进行初步评估，并将使用各种技术来评估它们的物理特性。产生的最好的催化剂将在作为电催化剂的性能方面进行优化，并接受更详细的电动和结构研究(例如XANES和XAFS)以及随后的机械和结构建模。这项工作将有助于确定与所测试的最活跃的电催化剂有关的关键结构特征，并提供在随后作为可能具有更大潜力的氧化催化剂的相关材料的合成中采取的最佳路线。最后，所有测试中最好的电催化剂将被用于创建简单、示范、可扩展的工作无线光电二极管太阳能转换设备，该设备利用廉价、高效的三结硅光伏电池作为光吸收单元，用于光分解水或盐水(包括海水)。

SummaryThe primary aim of this project is to produce new, sustainable oxidation catalysts that allow the creation of efficient wireless, photodiode, solar to chemical energy conversion devices for the splitting of brine/seawater. In brine, H2, alkali and Cl2 (or H2 and sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl will be the (separated) products. Hydrogen will be stored to provide heat at a later date (by burning) or used to produce electricity (via an H2/O2 fuel cell). The oxidised chloride will be stored either as Cl2, or hypochlorite, to provide a route to chlorinate water, or provide a disinfectant. The programme will produce inexpensive demonstrators which can be readily scaled up for use in the household - i.e. on a 'personalised' energy and disinfectant scale. Such systems are particularly suited for use in the developing countries, although the subsequent development of substantially scaled up systems - involving solar farms - will allow the production of these valuable, storable, chemical products at a level suitable for widespread use by a town and/or local industry. The latter scaled up systems will form the basis of a subsequent, second follow on stage, industry led, developmental program of work, whereas the first stage project described here will focus on the proof of concept and initial creation of scalable demonstrators. The proposed novel ClOCs developed in the project will utilise inexpensive, abundant nanomaterials (such as: oxides of Mn, Ni or Co), although, in some cases, these will be doped with well-dispersed, much more active, but less abundant ones, such as Ru dioxide. These nanomaterials will also be coated onto high surface area conducting carbons, which will allow them to be partly supported and active. A novel, combinatorial approach, using High-throughput Continuous Hydrothermal flow synthesis, HiTCH and, to a lesser extent, other - electrochemical and photochemical synthetic methods, will be used to produce a wide range of oxidation catalysts. Novel, colour-based rapid screening methods will be used to provide initial assessments of their activities and a wide range of techniques will be used to assess their physical properties. The best of the catalysts generated will be optimised in terms of performance as electrocatalysts and subjected to more detailed electro-kinetic and structural studies (e.g. XANES and XAFS) and subsequent mechanistic and structural modelling. This work will help identify key structural features associated with the most active of the electrocatalysts tested and inform on the best routes to be taken in the subsequent synthesis of related materials as oxidation catalysts of possible greater potential. Finally, the best of all the electrocatalysts tested will be used to create simple, exemplar, scalable working wireless photodiode solar energy conversion devices, which utilise inexpensive, efficient, triple-junction Si photovoltaic cells as the light-absorbing unit, for the photocleavage of water or brine (including seawater).