Pt─O Bond Accelerated Cu/Cu Activity for Boosting Low-Energy Bipolar Hydrogen Production.

To address the imperative challenge of producing hydrogen in a low-energy consumption electrocatalytic system, this study emphasizes the utilization of thermodynamically favorable biomass oxidation for achieving energy-efficient hydrogen generation. This research integrates ultralow PtO-loaded flower-like nanosheets (denoted as PtO@CuO/Cu FNs) with Cu/Cu pairs and Pt─O bonds, thereby yielding substantial enhancement in both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER, -0.042 V at 10 mA cm) and furfural oxidation reaction (FFOR, 0.09 V at 10 mA cm). As validated by DFT calculations, the dual built-in electric field (BIEF) is elucidated as the driving force behind the enhanced activities, in which Pt─O bonds expedite the HER, while Cu/Cu promotes low-potential FFOR. By coupling the FFOR and HER together, the resulting bipolar-hydrogen production system requires a low power input (0.5072 kWh per m) for producing H. The system can generate bipolar hydrogen and high value-added furoic acid, significantly enhancing hydrogen production efficiency and concurrently mitigating energy consumption.