In solid oxide fuel cells or electrolysis cells with ionic and electronic conducting electrodes, the electrochemical reactions take place at the gas/solid interface of the mixed conducting electrode. This is in contrast to the situation met in aqueous electrolytes, where the reactions occur at the electrode/electrolyte interface. Thus, modified concepts are required to describe the reaction rat...

Lowering the overpotential for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to useful products is one of the grand challenges in the Department Of Energy report, “Catalysis for Energy”. In a previous paper, we showed that CO2 conversion occurs at low overpotential on a 1-ethyl-3methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIM-BF4)-coated silver catalyst in an aqueous solution of EMIM-BF4. One of the surprise...

Two novel polyoxometalate (POM)-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), [TBA]3[ε-PMo(V)8Mo(VI)4O36(OH)4Zn4][BTB]4/3·xGuest (NENU-500, BTB = benzene tribenzoate, TBA(+) = tetrabutylammonium ion) and [TBA]3[ε-PMo(V)8Mo(VI)4O37(OH)3Zn4][BPT] (NENU-501, BPT = [1,1'-biphenyl]-3,4',5-tricarboxylate), were isolated. In these compounds, the POM fragments serving as nodes were directly connected with org...

Scanning tunneling microscopy and electrical conductivity of redox molecules in conducting media (aqueous or other media) acquire increasing importance both as novel single-molecule science and with a view on molecular scale functional elements. Such configurations require full and independent electrochemical potential control of both electrodes involved. We provide here a general formalism for...

The Zn-Cu battery is plagued with both the problems of Cu2+ migration into the anodic chamber as well as the problem of shape change of zinc electrodes, where both of these processes together have historically prevented this type of battery technology from being rechargeable. We herein propose using a monovalent selective cation exchange membrane (CIEM) that through X-ray diffraction experiment...

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from water through electrocatalysis using highly active noble metal-free catalysts as an alternative to precious Pt-based catalysts holds great promise for clean and renewable energy systems. Here, Mo2C nanosheets well-regulated in N-doped carbon (MCNS/NC)are facilely achieved by in situ confining carburization of a Mo-based inorganic-organic lamellar mesos...

Surface wettability is of importance for electrochemical reactions. Herein, its role in electrochemical hydrogen evolution reactions is investigated using light-sensitive nanotubular TiO2 supported Pt as hydrogen evolution electrodes (HEEs). The HEEs are fabricated by photocatalytic deposition of Pt particles on TiO2 nanotubes followed by hydrophobization with vaporized octadecyltrimethoxysilan...

The realization of manganese oxide anode materials for lithium-ion batteries is hindered by inferior cycle stability, rate capability, and high overpotential induced by the agglomeration of manganese metal grains, low conductivity of manganese oxide, and the high stress/strain in the crystalline manganese oxide structure during the repeated lithiation/delithiation process. To overcome these cha...

The first enzyme-based catalyst that is superior to platinum in the four-electron electroreduction of oxygen to water is reported. The smooth Pt cathode reached half and 90% of the mass transport-limited current density at respective overpotentials of -0.4 and -0.58 V in 0.5 M sulfuric acid, and only at even higher overpotentials in pH 7.2 phosphate buffer. In contrast, the smooth "wired" bilir...

There is great interest in hydrogen evolution in bioelectrochemical systems, such as microbial electrolysis cells (MECs), but these systems require non-optimal near-neutral pH conditions and the use of low-cost, non-precious metal catalysts. Here we show that molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) composite cathodes have electrochemical performance superior to stainless steel (SS) (currently the most prom...