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Hsiao YW, Nguyen DK, Yu K, Zheng W, Dimitrakellis P, Vlachos DG. Enhanced Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation of Activated Carbon-Supported Metal Catalysts via Rapid Plasma Surface Functionalization. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2023. [PMID: 37216677 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c03447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
We employ a nonthermal, He/O2 atmospheric plasma as an efficient surface functionalization method of activated carbons. We show that plasma treatment rapidly increases the surface oxygen content from 4.1 to 23.4% on a polymer-based spherical activated carbon in 10 min. Plasma treatment is 3 orders of magnitude faster than acidic oxidation and introduces a diverse range of carbonyl (C═O) and carboxyl (O-C═O) functionalities that were not found with acidic oxidation. The increased oxygen functionalities reduce the particle size of a high 20 wt % loading Cu catalyst by >44% and suppress the formation of large agglomerates. Increased metal dispersion exposes additional active sites and improves the yield of hydrodeoxygenation of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural to 2,5-dimethyl furan, an essential compound for biofuel replacement, by 47%. Surface functionalization via plasma can advance catalysis synthesis while being rapid and sustainable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yung Wei Hsiao
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, 150 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- RAPID Manufacturing Institute, Delaware Energy Institute (DEI), University of Delaware, 221 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Darien K Nguyen
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, 150 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- RAPID Manufacturing Institute, Delaware Energy Institute (DEI), University of Delaware, 221 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Kewei Yu
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, 150 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- RAPID Manufacturing Institute, Delaware Energy Institute (DEI), University of Delaware, 221 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Weiqing Zheng
- RAPID Manufacturing Institute, Delaware Energy Institute (DEI), University of Delaware, 221 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Panagiotis Dimitrakellis
- RAPID Manufacturing Institute, Delaware Energy Institute (DEI), University of Delaware, 221 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Dionisios G Vlachos
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, 150 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- RAPID Manufacturing Institute, Delaware Energy Institute (DEI), University of Delaware, 221 Academy Street, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
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Dong Y, Komarneni S. Strategies to Develop Earth-Abundant Heterogeneous Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalysts for pH-Neutral or pH-Near-Neutral Electrolytes. Small Methods 2021; 5:e2000719. [PMID: 34927809 DOI: 10.1002/smtd.202000719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2020] [Revised: 09/27/2020] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the bottleneck of water splitting to produce hydrogen due to its sluggish kinetics. In order to lower the energy cost, highly active and cost-efficient OER catalysts need to be used to overcome the OER reaction barrier, especially in neutral pH. Compared to alkaline or acidic electrolytes, pH-neutral or pH-near-neutral electrolytes are considered to be cheaper and safer, and water from rivers and the sea could be used directly under such conditions. However, OER under neutral pH is challenging compared to the OER catalysts for alkaline conditions. Therefore, OER catalysts for neutral or near-neutral pH have not been pursued significantly and, hence, there are limited advances in this area. Here, the progress made in the research and development of earth-abundant heterogeneous catalysts for OER in three pH-neutral or pH-near-neutral systems, namely, the phosphate system, the carbonate system, and the borate system, are systematically reviewed and summarized for the first time. Strategies to develop high-performance OER catalysts for neutral pH are reviewed and summarized. In addition, future challenges and opportunities in this field are discussed, which may shed some light on the future developments of earth-abundant heterogeneous catalysts for OER in neutral or near-neutral pH.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Dong
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 205 Energy and Environment Laboratory Hastings Rd, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Sridhar Komarneni
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 204 Energy and Environment Laboratory Hastings Rd, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
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