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Sarma H, Mandal S, Borbora A, Das J, Kumar S, Manna U. Self-healable, Tolerant Superaerophobic Coating for Improving Electrochemical Hydrogen Production. Small 2024:e2309359. [PMID: 38243839 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202309359] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 11/25/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024]
Abstract
Gas-evolving electrodes often suffer from the blocking of catalytic active sites-due to unwanted and unavoidable adhesion of generated gas bubbles, which elevates the overpotential for the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)- by raising the resistance of the electrode. Here, a catalyst-free and self-healable superaerophobic coating having ultra-low bubble adhesion is introduced for achieving significantly depleted overpotentials of 209 and 506 mV at both low (50 mA cm-2 ) and high (500 mA cm-2 ) current densities, respectively, compared to a bare nickel-foam electrode. The optimized coating ensured an early detachment of the generated tiny (0.8 ± 0.1 mm) gas bubble-and thus, prevented the undesired rise in resistance of the coated electrode. The systematic association of physical (i.e., ionic interactions, H-bonding, etc.) cross-linkage, β-amino ester type covalent cross-linkage and reinforced halloysite nano clay enables the design of such functional material embedded with essential characteristics-including improved mechanical (toughness of 63.7 kJ m-3 , and tensile modulus of 26 kPa) property and chemical (extremes of pH (1 and 14), salinity, etc.) stability, rapid (<10 min) self-healing ability (even at alkaline condition) and desired bubble-wettability (bubble contact angle of 158.2 ± 0.2° ) with ultralow force (4.2 ± 0.4 µN) of bubble adhesion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hrisikesh Sarma
- Bio-Inspired Polymeric Materials Lab, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam, 781039, India
| | - Subhankar Mandal
- Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam, 781039, India
| | - Angana Borbora
- Bio-Inspired Polymeric Materials Lab, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam, 781039, India
| | - Jaysri Das
- Bio-Inspired Polymeric Materials Lab, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam, 781039, India
| | - Saurav Kumar
- Bio-Inspired Polymeric Materials Lab, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam, 781039, India
| | - Uttam Manna
- Bio-Inspired Polymeric Materials Lab, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam, 781039, India
- Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam, 781039, India
- School of Health Science & Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam, 781039, India
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Cheng X, Du ZD, Ding Y, Li FY, Hua ZS, Liu H. Bubble Management for Electrolytic Water Splitting by Surface Engineering: A Review. Langmuir 2023; 39:16994-17008. [PMID: 38050682 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c02477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
During electrocatalytic water splitting, the management of bubbles possesses great importance to reduce the overpotential and improve the stability of the electrode. Bubble evolution is accomplished by nucleation, growth, and detachment. The expanding nucleation sites, decreasing bubble size, and timely detachment of bubbles from the electrode surface are key factors in bubble management. Recently, the surface engineering of electrodes has emerged as a promising strategy for bubble management in practical water splitting due to its reliability and efficiency. In this review, we start with a discussion of the bubble behavior on the electrodes during water splitting. Then we summarize recent progress in the management of bubbles from the perspective of surface physical (electrocatalytic surface morphology) and surface chemical (surface composition) considerations, focusing on the surface texture design, three-dimensional construction, wettability coating technology, and functional group modification. Finally, we present the principles of bubble management, followed by an insightful perspective and critical challenges for further development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Cheng
- Key Laboratory of Green Fabrication and Surface Technology of Advanced Metal Materials (Anhui University of Technology), Ministry of Education, Maanshan 243002, China
- School of Metallurgical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maxiang Road, Maanshan 243032, China
| | - Zhong-de Du
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maxiang Road, Maanshan 243032, China
| | - Yu Ding
- School of Metallurgical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maxiang Road, Maanshan 243032, China
| | - Fu-Yu Li
- School of Metallurgical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maxiang Road, Maanshan 243032, China
| | - Zhong-Sheng Hua
- School of Metallurgical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maxiang Road, Maanshan 243032, China
| | - Huan Liu
- Key Laboratory of Green Fabrication and Surface Technology of Advanced Metal Materials (Anhui University of Technology), Ministry of Education, Maanshan 243002, China
- School of Metallurgical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maxiang Road, Maanshan 243032, China
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