Paired photoelectrochemical conversion of CO2/H2O and glycerol at high rate

Photoelectrochemistry holds the promise of directly converting sunlight to valuable chemical products. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) methods, however, lag behind their electrochemical counterparts in terms of current density. In this work, we demonstrate that, by using concentrated sunlight, we can ach...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Balog Ádám
Kecsenovity Egon
Samu Gergely Ferenc
He Jie
Fekete Dávid
Janáky Csaba
Format: Article
Published: 2024
Series:NATURE CATALYSIS 7 No. 5
Subjects:
doi:10.1038/s41929-024-01134-3

mtmt:34825908
Online Access:http://publicatio.bibl.u-szeged.hu/30422
Description
Summary:Photoelectrochemistry holds the promise of directly converting sunlight to valuable chemical products. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) methods, however, lag behind their electrochemical counterparts in terms of current density. In this work, we demonstrate that, by using concentrated sunlight, we can achieve current densities similar to electrochemical methods, but with lower energy input. Specifically, we combined the direct PEC oxidation of glycerol with the dark hydrogen evolution or CO 2 reduction in a membrane-separated continuous-flow PEC cell. We achieved over 110 mA cm −2 photocurrent density, which is at least an order of magnitude larger than those typically reported in the literature. We demonstrated that the product distribution of glycerol oxidation is notably different in PEC and electrochemical scenarios at the same current density, and the parasitic oxygen evolution reaction can be suppressed in the PEC case. This approach raises opportunities to drive complex electrochemical reactions in a more selective manner.
Physical Description:522-535
ISSN:2520-1158