Electrowetting limits electrochemical CO reduction in carbon-free gas diffusion electrodes.

CO electrolysis might be a key process to utilize intermittent renewable electricity for the sustainable production of hydrocarbon chemicals without relying on fossil fuels. Commonly used carbon-based gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) enable high Faradaic efficiencies for the desired carbon products at high current densities, but have limited stability. In this study, we explore the adaption of a carbon-free GDE from a Chlor-alkali electrolysis process as a cathode for gas-fed CO electrolysis.

Promoting Photocatalytic Activity of NH-MIL-125(Ti) for H Evolution Reaction through Creation of Ti- and Co-Based Proton Reduction Sites.

Titanium-based metal-organic framework, NH-MIL-125(Ti), has been widely investigated for photocatalytic applications but has low activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, we show a one-step low-cost postmodification of NH-MIL-125(Ti) via impregnation of Co(NO). The resulting Co@NH-MIL-125(Ti) with embedded single-site Co species, confirmed by XPS and XAS measurements, shows enhanced activity under visible light exposure.

Amorphous/Nanocrystalline High-Entropy CoCrFeNiTi Thin Films with Low Thermal Coefficient of Resistivity Obtained via Magnetron Deposition.

High-entropy alloys are promising materials for novel thin-film resistors since they have high resistivity and a low-temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR). In this work, a new high-entropy thin-film CoCrFeNiTi was deposited on a Si/SiO substrate by means of magnetron sputtering of the multi-component target produced by hot pressing of the powder mixture. The samples possessed a thickness of 130-230 nm and an amorphous atomic structure with nanocrystallite traces.

A Titanium Metal-Organic Framework with Visible-Light-Responsive Photocatalytic Activity.

The one-step synthesis and characterization of a new and robust titanium-based metal-organic framework, ACM-1, is reported. In this structure, which is based on infinite Ti-O chains and 4,4',4'',4'''-(pyrene-1,3,6,8-tetrayl) tetrabenzoic acid as a photosensitizer ligand, the combination of highly mobile photogenerated electrons and a strong hole localization at the organic linker results in large charge-separation lifetimes. The suitable energies for band gap and conduction band minimum (CBM) offer great potential for a wide range of photocatalytic reactions, from hydrogen evolution to the selective oxidation of organic substrates.

On the origin of the photocurrent of electrochemically passivated p-InP(100) photoelectrodes.

III-V semiconductors such as InP are highly efficient light absorbers for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting devices. Yet, their cathodic stability is limited due to photocorrosion and the measured photocurrents do not necessarily originate from H2 evolution only. We evaluated the PEC stability and activation of model p-InP(100) photocathodes upon photoelectrochemical passivation (i.

Stability of CoP Electrocatalysts in Continuous and Interrupted Acidic Electrolysis of Water.

Cobalt phosphides are an emerging earth-abundant alternative to platinum-group-metal-based electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Yet, their stability is inferior to platinum and compromises the large-scale applicability of CoP in water electrolyzers. In the present study, we employed flat, thin CoP electrodes prepared through the thermal phosphidation (PH) of CoO films made by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition to evaluate their stability in acidic water electrolysis by using a multi-technique approach.

Promoted Iron Nanocrystals Obtained via Ligand Exchange as Active and Selective Catalysts for Synthesis Gas Conversion.

Colloidal synthesis routes have been recently used to fabricate heterogeneous catalysts with more controllable and homogeneous properties. Herein a method was developed to modify the surface composition of colloidal nanocrystal catalysts and to purposely introduce specific atoms via ligands and change the catalyst reactivity. Organic ligands adsorbed on the surface of iron oxide catalysts were exchanged with inorganic species such as NaS, not only to provide an active surface but also to introduce controlled amounts of Na and S acting as promoters for the catalytic process.

Material structure-composite morphology-photovoltaic performance relationship for organic bulk heterojunction solar cells.

Conjugated PPV-PPE copolymer has been investigated in organic solar cells in combination with twelve different fullerene derivatives. It was shown that the length of solubilizing alkyl chains in the fullerene derivative structures correlates well with the performance of photovoltaic cells.

Self-assembly of thiophene- and furan-appended methanofullerenes with poly(3-hexylthiophene) in organic solar cells.

Novel fullerene derivatives bearing thiophene and furan residues were synthesized and studied as electron acceptor materials in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, together with poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as the donor polymer. Some compounds showed large nanomorphological inhomogenities in blends with P3HT; in particular, clusters with dimensions in the range of 100-1000 nm were formed. However, some blends that showed such large clusters yielded at the same time high power conversion efficiencies in photovoltaic devices, approaching 3.