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Nano Research 2024, 17(3): 1542-1551 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6023-1
Research Article | Issue | Published: 12 August 2023

Electrochemical converting ethanol to hydrogen and acetic acid for large scale green hydrogen production

Show Author's Information Yufeng Zhang1,2,  Wei Zhu1( ),  Jinjie Fang1,  Zhiyuan Xu1,  Yanrong Xue1,  Jiajing Pei1,  Rui Sui1,  Xingdong Wang1,  Xuejiang Zhang1,  Zhongbin Zhuang1,3( )
State Key Lab of Organic-Inorganic Composites and Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials of Nanjing, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Environmental Catalysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Keywords:
selective ethanol electrooxidation, gold alloy catalyst, electrochemical-coupled hydrogen production, market assessment, interfacial water activation
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Zhang Y, Zhu W, Fang J, et al. Electrochemical converting ethanol to hydrogen and acetic acid for large scale green hydrogen production. Nano Research, 2024, 17(3): 1542-1551. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6023-1
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Electrochemical coupling hydrogen evolution with biomass reforming reaction (named electrochemical hydrogen and chemical cogeneration (EHCC)), which realizes green hydrogen production and chemical upgrading simultaneously, is a promising method to build a carbon-neutral society. Herein, we analyze the EHCC process by considering the market assessment. The ethanol to acetic acid and hydrogen approach is the most feasible for large-scale hydrogen production. We develop AuCu nanocatalysts, which can selectively oxidize ethanol to acetic acid (> 97%) with high long-term activity. The isotopic and in-situ infrared experiments reveal that the promoted water dissociation step by alloying contributes to the enhanced activity of the partial oxidation reaction path. A flow-cell electrolyzer equipped with the AuCu anodic catalyst achieves the steady production of hydrogen and acetic acid simultaneously in both high selectivity (> 90%), demonstrating the potential scalable application for green hydrogen production with low energy consumption and high profitability.


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Abstract
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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Electrochemical converting ethanol to hydrogen and acetic acid for large scale green hydrogen production

Show Author's information Yufeng Zhang1,2, Wei Zhu1( ), Jinjie Fang1, Zhiyuan Xu1, Yanrong Xue1, Jiajing Pei1, Rui Sui1, Xingdong Wang1, Xuejiang Zhang1, Zhongbin Zhuang1,3( )
State Key Lab of Organic-Inorganic Composites and Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials of Nanjing, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Environmental Catalysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China

Abstract

Electrochemical coupling hydrogen evolution with biomass reforming reaction (named electrochemical hydrogen and chemical cogeneration (EHCC)), which realizes green hydrogen production and chemical upgrading simultaneously, is a promising method to build a carbon-neutral society. Herein, we analyze the EHCC process by considering the market assessment. The ethanol to acetic acid and hydrogen approach is the most feasible for large-scale hydrogen production. We develop AuCu nanocatalysts, which can selectively oxidize ethanol to acetic acid (> 97%) with high long-term activity. The isotopic and in-situ infrared experiments reveal that the promoted water dissociation step by alloying contributes to the enhanced activity of the partial oxidation reaction path. A flow-cell electrolyzer equipped with the AuCu anodic catalyst achieves the steady production of hydrogen and acetic acid simultaneously in both high selectivity (> 90%), demonstrating the potential scalable application for green hydrogen production with low energy consumption and high profitability.

Keywords: selective ethanol electrooxidation, gold alloy catalyst, electrochemical-coupled hydrogen production, market assessment, interfacial water activation

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 08 June 2023
Revised: 16 July 2023
Accepted: 19 July 2023
Published: 12 August 2023
Issue date: March 2024

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2023

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21971008 and 22279004), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. Z210016), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. buctrc201916).

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