Discovery of true electrochemical reactions for ultrahigh catalyst mass activity in water splitting
Abstract
Better understanding of true electrochemical reaction behaviors in electrochemical energy devices is desirable. It has been assumed so far that the reactions occur across the entire catalyst layer (CL), which is designed and fabricated uniformly with catalysts, conductors of protons and electrons, and pathways for reactants and products. By introducing a state-of-the-art characterization system, a thin, highly tunable liquid/gas diffusion layer (LGDL), and an innovative design of electrochemical proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), the electrochemical reactions on both microspatial and microtemporal scales are revealed for the first time. Surprisingly, reactions occur only on the CL adjacent to good electrical conductors. On the basis of these findings, new CL fabrications on the novel LGDLs exhibit more than 50 times higher mass activity than conventional catalyst-coated membranes in PEMECs. Lastly, this discovery presents an opportunity to enhance the multiphase interfacial effects, maximizing the use of the catalysts and significantly reducing the cost of these devices.
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Space Inst., Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Space Inst., Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering.
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research Center (FEERC); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). National Transportation Research Center (NTRC)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1334398
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1337486
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-4A00-67493
Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308; FE0011585; AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 2; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
- Publisher:
- AAAS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 08 HYDROGEN; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; electrochemical reactions; catalyst mass activity; hydrogen; water splitting; electrolyzer; high-speed visualization; microscale reaction; transparent proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cell; well-tunable liquid/gas diffusion layers; catalyst deposition; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Citation Formats
Mo, Jingke, Kang, Zhenye, Retterer, Scott T., Cullen, David A., Toops, Todd J., Green, Johney B., Mench, Matthew M., and Zhang, Feng-Yuan. Discovery of true electrochemical reactions for ultrahigh catalyst mass activity in water splitting. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600690.
Mo, Jingke, Kang, Zhenye, Retterer, Scott T., Cullen, David A., Toops, Todd J., Green, Johney B., Mench, Matthew M., & Zhang, Feng-Yuan. Discovery of true electrochemical reactions for ultrahigh catalyst mass activity in water splitting. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600690
Mo, Jingke, Kang, Zhenye, Retterer, Scott T., Cullen, David A., Toops, Todd J., Green, Johney B., Mench, Matthew M., and Zhang, Feng-Yuan. Fri .
"Discovery of true electrochemical reactions for ultrahigh catalyst mass activity in water splitting". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600690. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1334398.
@article{osti_1334398,
title = {Discovery of true electrochemical reactions for ultrahigh catalyst mass activity in water splitting},
author = {Mo, Jingke and Kang, Zhenye and Retterer, Scott T. and Cullen, David A. and Toops, Todd J. and Green, Johney B. and Mench, Matthew M. and Zhang, Feng-Yuan},
abstractNote = {Better understanding of true electrochemical reaction behaviors in electrochemical energy devices is desirable. It has been assumed so far that the reactions occur across the entire catalyst layer (CL), which is designed and fabricated uniformly with catalysts, conductors of protons and electrons, and pathways for reactants and products. By introducing a state-of-the-art characterization system, a thin, highly tunable liquid/gas diffusion layer (LGDL), and an innovative design of electrochemical proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), the electrochemical reactions on both microspatial and microtemporal scales are revealed for the first time. Surprisingly, reactions occur only on the CL adjacent to good electrical conductors. On the basis of these findings, new CL fabrications on the novel LGDLs exhibit more than 50 times higher mass activity than conventional catalyst-coated membranes in PEMECs. Lastly, this discovery presents an opportunity to enhance the multiphase interfacial effects, maximizing the use of the catalysts and significantly reducing the cost of these devices.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.1600690},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 11,
volume = 2,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 18 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Fri Nov 18 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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