Recent advances in Bio-mass by electrochemically strategies generated hydrogen gas production: Environmentally sustainable technologies innovation

The potential of green hydrogen as in transitioning to a free pollution energy infrastructure. Green hydrogen gas is produced using renewable energy sources, typically through the process of electrolysis, and is considered environment friendly because it does not emit carbon dioxide when produced. While solar water redox reaction using photochemical and electrochemical methods is an elegant way to harvest green hydrogen production, it can be challenging to make this process economically competitive, especially for low-cost products like hydrogen. To address this challenge, the proposes a solution, which is to produce hydrogen during the photoelectrochemical process. In this demonstration of the (photo)electrochemically generated hydrogen (H2) for the homogeneous and hydrogenation. The coupled process offers greater stability compared to direct electrochemical hydrogenation and it provides more flexibility in controlling the chemical reactions involved. Overpotential refers to the extra energy required to drive a reaction and coupling the processes can help minimize this overpotential. An overall ∼58 conversion of the produced hydrogen is confirmed for this process, indicating the efficiency of the approach. Additionally, a techno-economic assessment of the proa strategy to make green hydrogen production economically competitive by co-producing value-added chemicals, using ascorbic acid. This approach enhances the economic feasibility of green hydrogen production but also adds value to the process by producing valuable chemical products. © 2023 Elsevier Lt

Facile efficient earth abundant NiO/C composite electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c8ra10472g

Due to the increasing energy consumption, designing efficient electrocatalysts for electrochemical water splitting is highly demanded. In this study, we provide a facile approach for the design and fabrication of efficient and stable electrocatalysts through wet chemical methods. The carbon material, obtained by the dehydration of sucrose sugar, provides high surface area for the deposition of NiO nanostructures and the resulting NiO/C catalysts show higher activity towards the OER in alkaline media. During the OER, a composite of NiO with 200 mg C can produce current densities of 10 and 20 mA cm(-2) at a bias of 1.45 V and 1.47 V vs. RHE, respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy experiments showed the lowest charge transfer resistance and the highest double layer capacitance in the case of the NiO/C composite with 200 mg C. The presence of C for the deposition of NiO nanostructures increases the active centers and consequently a robust electrocatalytic activity is achieved. The obtained results in terms of the low overpotential and small Tafel slope of 55 mV dec(-1) for non-precious catalysts are clear indications for the significant advancement in the field of electrocatalyst design for water splitting. This composite material based on NiO/C is simple and scalable for widespread use in various applications, especially in supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries.Funding Agencies|Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) [SFRH/BPD/97453/2013]</p

An advanced and efficient Co3O4/C nanocomposite for the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media

The design of efficient nonprecious catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) or the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a necessary, but very challenging task to uplift the water-based economy. In this study, we developed a facile approach to produce porous carbon from the dehydration of sucrose and use it for the preparation of nanocomposites with cobalt oxide (Co3O4). The nanocomposites were studied by the powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques, and they exhibited the cubic phase of cobalt oxide and porous structure of carbon. The nanocomposites showed significant OER activity in alkaline media, and the current densities of 10 and 20 mA cm(-2) could be obtained at 1.49 and 1.51 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), respectively. The impedance study confirms favorable OER activity on the surface of the prepared nanocomposites. The nanocomposite is cost-effective and can be capitalized in various energy storage technologies

TiO2/ZnO Nanocomposite Material for Efficient Degradation of Methylene Blue

In this research work, we have produced a composite material consisting titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures via precipitation method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study has shown the mixture of nanostructures consisting nanorods and nano flower. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) study has confirmed the presence of Ti, Zn and O as main elements in the composite. X-ray diffraction (XID) study has revealed that the successful presence of TiO2 and ZnO in the composite. The composite material exhibits small optical energy band gap which led to reduction of the charge recombination rate of electron-hole pairs. The band gap for the composite TiO2/ZnO samples namely 1, 2, 3 and 4 is 3.18, 3.00, 2.97 and 2.83 eV respectively. Small optical bandgap gives less relaxation time for the recombination of electron and hole pairs, thus favorable photodegradation is found. The degradation efficiency for the TiO2/ZnO samples for methylene blue in order of 55.03%, 75.7%, 85.14% and 90.08% is found for the samples 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The proposed study of titanium dioxide addition into ZnO is facile and inexpensive for the development of efficient photocatalysts. This can be capitalized at large scale for the energy and environmental applications.Funding Agencies|King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaKing Saud University [RSP-2020/79]</p

Tin as an Effective Doping Agent into ZnO for the Improved Photodegradation of Rhodamine B

We have fabricated ZnO nano rods by hydrothermal method and successively doped them with tin (Sn) using different concentrations of 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg of tin chloride. XRD of the fabricated structures showed that ZnO possess hexagonal wurtzite phase. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to explore the morphology and it shows nanorod like morphology for all samples and no considerable change in the structural features were found. The dimension of nanorod is 200 to 300 nm. The doped materials were then investigated for their photo catalytic degradation of environmental pollutant Rhodamine B. The performance of doped ZnO is compared with the pristine ZnO. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to explore the morphology and it shows nanorod like morphology for all samples and no considerable change in the structural features were found. The dimension of nanorod is 200 to 300 nm. XRD of the fabricated structures showed that ZnO possess hexagonal wurtzite phase. Photo catalytic activity of rhodamine B was investigated under UV light and a maximum degradation efficiency of 85% was obtained. The optical property reveals the reduction in band gap of upto 17.14% for 100 mg Sn doped ZnO. The degradation is followed by the pseudo order kinetics. The produced results are unique in terms of facile synthesis of Sn doped ZnO and excellent photo degradation efficiency, therefore these materials can be used for other environmental applications