Citation: Yiming Guo, Zhouhong Yu, Bin He, Pengzuo Chen. Metallic cobalt mediated molybdenum nitride for efficient glycerol upgrading with water electrolysis[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2025, 36(9): 111010. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111010 shu

Metallic cobalt mediated molybdenum nitride for efficient glycerol upgrading with water electrolysis

Yiming Guo ^a ,
Zhouhong Yu ^a ,
Bin He ^{b, *,} ,
Pengzuo Chen ^{a, *,}

a.
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Surface & Interface Science of Polymer Materials of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
b.
Huzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Functional Materials and Pollution Control, Department of Materials Chemistry, Huzhou University, Huzhou 313000, China

binhe@zjhu.edu.cn

pzchen@zstu.edu.cn

Received Date: 28 December 2024
Revised Date: 17 February 2025
Accepted Date: 26 February 2025
Available Online: 27 February 2025

Figures(4)

Integrating electrochemical upgrading of glycerol and water electrolysis is regarded as a promising and energy-saving approach for the co-production of chemicals and hydrogen. However, developing efficient electrocatalyst towards this technology remains challenging. Herein, a metallic cobalt mediated molybdenum nitride heterostructural material has been exploited on nickel foam (Co@Mo₂N/NF) for the glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Remarkably, the obtained Co@Mo₂N/NF realizes eminent performance with low overpotential of 49 mV at 50 mA/cm² for HER and high Faradaic efficiency of formate of 95.03% at 1.35 Ⅴ vs. RHE for GOR, respectively. The systematic in-situ experiments reveal that the Co@Mo₂N heterostructure promotes the cleavage of CC bond in glycerol by active CoOOH species and boosts the conversion of glycerol to aldehyde intermediates to formate product. Moreover, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm the strong interaction at Co@Mo₂N interface, which contributes to the optimized water dissociation and the transformation of H* to H₂. Benefiting from those advantages, the built HERGOR electrolyzer delivers a low voltage of 1.61 Ⅴ at 50 mA/cm², high Faradaic efficiency, and robust stability over 120 h for sustained and stable electrolysis.
- Metallic Co,
- Molybdenum nitride,
- Heterostructure,
- Glycerol upgrading,
- Water electrolysis
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