IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms5036.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nanotechnology makes biomass electrolysis more energy efficient than water electrolysis

Author

Listed:
  • Y. X. Chen

    (ICCOM-CNR
    University of Trieste)

  • A. Lavacchi

    (ICCOM-CNR)

  • H. A. Miller

    (ICCOM-CNR)

  • M. Bevilacqua

    (ICCOM-CNR)

  • J. Filippi

    (ICCOM-CNR)

  • M. Innocenti

    (ICCOM-CNR
    Università di Firenze)

  • A. Marchionni

    (ICCOM-CNR)

  • W. Oberhauser

    (ICCOM-CNR)

  • L. Wang

    (ICCOM-CNR
    University of Trieste)

  • F. Vizza

    (ICCOM-CNR)

Abstract

The energetic convenience of electrolytic water splitting is limited by thermodynamics. Consequently, significant levels of hydrogen production can only be obtained with an electrical energy consumption exceeding 45 kWhkg -1 H 2 . Electrochemical reforming allows the overcoming of such thermodynamic limitations by replacing oxygen evolution with the oxidation of biomass-derived alcohols. Here we show that the use of an original anode material consisting of palladium nanoparticles deposited on to a three-dimensional architecture of titania nanotubes allows electrical energy savings up to 26.5 kWhkg -1 H 2 as compared with proton electrolyte membrane water electrolysis. A net energy analysis shows that for bio-ethanol with energy return of the invested energy larger than 5.1 (for example, cellulose), the electrochemical reforming energy balance is advantageous over proton electrolyte membrane water electrolysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Y. X. Chen & A. Lavacchi & H. A. Miller & M. Bevilacqua & J. Filippi & M. Innocenti & A. Marchionni & W. Oberhauser & L. Wang & F. Vizza, 2014. "Nanotechnology makes biomass electrolysis more energy efficient than water electrolysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-6, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5036
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5036
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5036
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms5036?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhenhua Li & Yifan Yan & Si-Min Xu & Hua Zhou & Ming Xu & Lina Ma & Mingfei Shao & Xianggui Kong & Bin Wang & Lirong Zheng & Haohong Duan, 2022. "Alcohols electrooxidation coupled with H2 production at high current densities promoted by a cooperative catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Guangzai Nong & Zongwen Zhou & Shuangfei Wang, 2015. "Generation of Hydrogen, Lignin and Sodium Hydroxide from Pulping Black Liquor by Electrolysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Ganceng Yang & Yanqing Jiao & Haijing Yan & Ying Xie & Chungui Tian & Aiping Wu & Yu Wang & Honggang Fu, 2022. "Unraveling the mechanism for paired electrocatalysis of organics with water as a feedstock," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Gilmore, Nicholas & Koskinen, Ilpo & van Gennip, Domenique & Paget, Greta & Burr, Patrick A. & Obbard, Edward G. & Daiyan, Rahman & Sproul, Alistair & Kay, Merlinde & Lennon, Alison & Konstantinou, Ge, 2022. "Clean energy futures: An Australian based foresight study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    5. Yuri Choi & Rashmi Mehrotra & Sang-Hak Lee & Trang Vu Thien Nguyen & Inhui Lee & Jiyeong Kim & Hwa-Young Yang & Hyeonmyeong Oh & Hyunwoo Kim & Jae-Won Lee & Yong Hwan Kim & Sung-Yeon Jang & Ji-Wook Ja, 2022. "Bias-free solar hydrogen production at 19.8 mA cm−2 using perovskite photocathode and lignocellulosic biomass," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Chen, Shuai & Zhou, Wei & Ding, Yani & Zhao, Guangbo & Gao, Jihui, 2021. "Fe3+-mediated coal-assisted water electrolysis for hydrogen production: Roles of mineral matter and oxygen-containing functional groups in coal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    7. Nicholas Gurieff & Behdad Moghtaderi & Rahman Daiyan & Rose Amal, 2021. "Gas Transition: Renewable Hydrogen’s Future in Eastern Australia’s Energy Networks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-20, July.
    8. Ju, HyungKuk & Badwal, Sukhvinder & Giddey, Sarbjit, 2018. "A comprehensive review of carbon and hydrocarbon assisted water electrolysis for hydrogen production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 502-533.
    9. Zhou, Wei & Chen, Shuai & Meng, Xiaoxiao & Li, Jiayi & Huang, Yuming & Gao, Jihui & Zhao, Guangbo & He, Yong & Qin, Yukun, 2022. "Two-step coal-assisted water electrolysis for energy-saving hydrogen production at cell voltage of 1.2 V with current densities larger than 150 mA/cm2," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    10. Hamish Andrew Miller & Jacopo Ruggeri & Andrea Marchionni & Marco Bellini & Maria Vincenza Pagliaro & Carlo Bartoli & Andrea Pucci & Elisa Passaglia & Francesco Vizza, 2018. "Improving the Energy Efficiency of Direct Formate Fuel Cells with a Pd/C-CeO 2 Anode Catalyst and Anion Exchange Ionomer in the Catalyst Layer," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-12, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5036. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.