Engineered Nickel-Iron Nitride Electrocatalyst for Industrial-Scale Seawater Hydrogen Production.

Seawater electrolysis under alkaline conditions is a crucial technology for sustainable hydrogen production. However, achieving the long-term stability of the electrocatalyst remains a significant challenge. In this study, it is demonstrated that surface reconstruction of a transition metal nitride (TMN) can be used to develop a highly stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst.

Enhanced Room-Temperature NO Sensing through Deep Functional Group Hybridization in Nitrogen-Doped Monolayer TiCT.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO) is a significant environmental and human health hazard. Current NO sensors often lack sensitivity and selectivity under ambient conditions. This study investigates ammonia pyrolysis modification of monolayer TiCT MXene to enhance NO detection at room temperature.

Efficient and durable seawater electrolysis with a VO-protected catalyst.

The ocean, a vast hydrogen reservoir, holds potential for sustainable energy and water development. Developing high-performance electrocatalysts for hydrogen production under harsh seawater conditions is challenging. Here, we propose incorporating a protective VO layer to modulate the microcatalytic environment and create in situ dual-active sites consisting of low-loaded Pt and NiN.

Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Using Metastable Zirconium Suboxide.

Strategies for discovery of high-performance electrocatalysts are important to advance clean energy technologies. Metastable phases such as low temperature or interfacial structures that are difficult to access in bulk may offer such catalytically active surfaces. We report here that the suboxide ZrO, which is formed at Zr-ZrO interfaces but does not appear in the experimental Zr-O phase diagram exhibits outstanding oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance surpassing that of benchmark Pt/C and most transition metal-based catalysts.

Vertical Cross-Alignments of 2D Semiconductors with Steered Internal Electric Field for Urea Electrooxidation via Balancing Intermediates Adsorption.

Single-component electrocatalysts generally lead to unbalanced adsorption of OH and urea during urea oxidation reaction (UOR), thus obtaining low activity and selectivity especially when oxygen evolution reaction (OER) competes at high potentials (>1.5 V). Herein, a cross-alignment strategy of in situ vertically growing Ni(OH) nanosheets on 2D semiconductor g-CN is reported to form a hetero-structured electrocatalyst.

Activating Interfacial Electron Redistribution in Lattice-Matched Biphasic NiN-CoN for Energy-Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production via Coupled Hydrazine Degradation.

The development of high-purity and high-energy-density green hydrogen through water electrolysis holds immense promise, but issues such as electrocatalyst costs and power consumption have hampered its practical application. In this study, we present a promising solution to these challenges through the use of a high-performance bifunctional electrocatalyst for energy-efficient hydrogen production via coupled hydrazine degradation. The biphasic metal nitrides with highly lattice-matched structures are deliberately constructed, forming an enhanced local electric field between the electron-rich NiN and electron-deficient CoN.

Cu-Pt/CrN Fuel Cell Gas Sensor Achieves ppb-Level HS Detection at Room Temperature.

Fuel cell gas sensors have emerged as promising advanced sensing devices owing to their advantageous features of low power consumption and cost-effectiveness. However, commercially available Pt/C electrodes pose significant challenges in terms of stability and accurate detection of low concentrations of target gases. Here, we introduce an efficient Cu-Pt/CrN-based fuel cell gas sensor, designed specifically for the ultrasensitive detection of hydrogen sulfide (HS) at room temperature.

Metal nitrides for seawater electrolysis.

Electrocatalytic high-throughput seawater electrolysis for hydrogen production is a promising green energy technology that offers possibilities for environmental and energy sustainability. However, large-scale application is limited by the complex composition of seawater, high concentration of Cl leading to competing reaction, and severe corrosion of electrode materials. In recent years, extensive research has been conducted to address these challenges.