(Invited) Polyoxometalate Electron-Coupled-Proton Buffers for Electrochemical and Photo-Electrochemical Water Splitting and Beyond

摘要

The storage of renewably-generated energy as hydrogen via the electrolysis of water is a fundamental cornerstone of a sustainable hydrogen economy. Conventional electrolysers usually require stable power inputs in order to operate effectively and safely and so may be unsuited to harnessing renewable power, which is often intermittent and diffuse. Electrolysis mediated by Electron-Coupled-Proton Buffers (see, for example: Nature Chem. 2013, 5, 403-409; Science, 2014, 345, 1326-1330; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 6707-6710; Joule, 2018, 2, 1390-1395) has the potential to overcome some of the challenges surrounding electrolysis using low and/or sporadic power inputs (especially those related to gas crossover) as the use of Electron-Coupled-Proton Buffers allows the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions to be completely decoupled from one another. In this talk, we shall investigate these claims for decoupled electrolysis (Electrochimica Acta, accepted for publication) and also explore the use of Electron-Coupled-Proton Buffers (ECPBs) as redox mediators in high energy-density redox flow batteries (Nature Chem. 2018, 10, 1042-1047) and for chemical hydrogenation reactions (Chem. Commun. 2018, 54, 1093-1096).