Work

Plasma‐Constructed Co 2 P–Ni 2 P Heterointerface for Electro‑Upcycling of Polyethylene Terephthalate Plastic to Co‐Produce Hydrogen and Formate

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Integrating electrochemical upcycling of polyethylene‐terephthalate (PET) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is an energy‐saving approach for electrolytic hydrogen (H 2 ) production, along with the coproduction of formate. Herein, a novel and rapid strategy of cold plasma phosphating is employed to synthesize Co 2 P–Ni 2 P heterointerface decorated on carbon cloth (Co 2 P‐Ni 2 P/CC) to catalyze H 2 generation and reform PET. Notably, the obtained Co 2 P–Ni 2 P/CC exhibits eminent ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) and HER activities, effectuating low potentials of merely 1.300 and −0.112 V versus RHE at 100 mA cm −2 for the EGOR and HER, respectively, also attaining an ultralow cell bias of 1.300 V at 10 mA cm −2 for EG oxidation assisted‐water splitting. DFT and characterization results validate that the as‐formed built‐in electric fields in the Co 2 P–Ni 2 P heterointerface can accelerate electrons transfer and deepen structural self‐reconstruction, thereby boosting effectively water dissociation and ethylene glycol (EG) dehydrogenation. Impressively, coupling HER with PET‐derived EG‐to‐formate in a flow‐cell electrolyzer assembled with Co 2 P‐Ni 2 P/CC pair achieves an intriguing formate Faradaic efficiency of 90.6% and an extraordinary stable operation of over 70 h at 100 mA cm −2 . The work exemplifies a facile and effective strategy for synthesizing metal phosphides electrocatalysts with extraordinary performance toward H 2 generation of water splitting and recycling of PET.

Source: Small

DOI: 10.1002/smll.202406767

Authors: Jingsen Zhang, Xiuling Zhang, Chuan Shi, Xinyao Yu, Yitong Zhou, Lanbo Di