Solid-Liquid Interfacial Hydrogen Bond Mediated Mass Transfer toward Industrial Water Electrolysis

Abstract

The rapid migration of reactive ions across the electrolyte–catalytic sites interface is crucial in various catalytic processes. Herein, we introduce hydrogen bond to bridge the intrinsic gap at the catalyst-electrolyte interface, mediating the diffusion of hydroxide ions. We implemented the aforementioned concept by a library of oxyanions functionalized NiCo OOH, wherein the oxygen atom within the oxyanions established hydrogen bond with H2O molecules in the electrolyte. Operando spectroscopy indicated that both water electrolysis activity and hydroxide concentration exhibited a volcano-shaped dependence on the electrostatic potential of functionalized group, which formulated the electrostatic potential as descriptors to guide the design of interfacial hydrogen bond-mediated catalysis. The sulfate-modified NiCo OOH achieved an ultralow energy consumption of 4.23 kWh m-3H2 in the industrial electrolyzers, predicting that the electricity consumption can be reduced by 16,000 TWh.