Promoting hydrogen evolution by anodic electrosynthesis of value-added chemicals over bimetallic MoNi coupling biomass carbon electrocatalysts

The development of an alternative anode reaction with accelerated kinetics to promote hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) while producing high-value-added chemicals is of great significance in the field of electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Here, bimetallic MoNi nanocomposites supported on dandelion seeds derived N-doped porous carbon was prepared on nickel foam (MoNi/DS-dNPC/NF) as electrocatalyst for co-producing value-added formate at anode and H2 at the cathode, respectively. The electrocatalyst exhibits good electrocatalytic activity and robust durability, and only needs an overpotential of 115 mV (vs. RHE) to attain the current density of 10 mA cm-2 for HER, simultaneously delivering 10 mA cm-2 for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) at the potential of 1.37 V (vs. RHE), and it can maintain 20 h operation without noticeable loss in activity. Moreover, when equipped with the MoNi/DS-dNPC/NF at both anode and cathode, the electrolyzer displays a cell voltage of 1.47 V at 10 mA cm-2 in methanol solution (0.5 M), which is 180 mV lower than that in pure water splitting. & COPY; 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.