Descripción del proyecto
Materialesbidimensionales prometedores para la catálisis de la disociación del agua con el fin de mejorar la producción de hidrógeno
Las pilas de combustible de hidrógeno están listas para convertirse en una de las innovaciones energéticas renovables del futuro. Aunque la disociación del agua es la forma más sencilla de obtener hidrógeno, esta reacción todavía no es económicamente viable. Gracias a su excelente actividad catalítica, los materiales bidimensionales (2D) podrían mejorar la producción de hidrógeno a partir de la disociación del agua de forma rentable. El equipo del proyecto EC-MAXene, financiado por las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, aprovechará los MXenos, o MXenes en inglés, una clase abundante y estable de compuestos inorgánicos 2D. Los investigadores emplearán métodos basados en la electroquímica y compuestos químicos ecológicos para sintetizar MXenos. Evaluarán el rendimiento de las técnicas propuestas y correlacionarán las características estructurales y electromecánicas de los MXenos.
Objetivo
To minimize the consequences of climate change, stopping greenhouse gas emissions and thus decarbonization of the energy supply chain is crucial. A highly promising solution is the utilization of fuel cells, which require hydrogen for energy generation. The supply of hydrogen by green technologies like water splitting is not economically feasible yet. To resolve this issue, cheap and efficient catalysts to drive this reaction are required. In the recent years, 2D materials moved in the focus of research as some of them show excellent catalytic activity to support the electrochemical splitting of water to obtain hydrogen.
Among the vast field of 2D materials, MXenes are potential earth-abundant candidates with high stability and a broad range of potential applications, including the catalysis of water splitting. To date, 30 different MXenes have been synthesized, while more than 100 of them are predicted. However, established protocols use hazardous chemicals for the synthesis. Among the different methods, electrochemical etching of MAX phases to MXenes has the highest potential for an environmental approach. Thus, the main effort of this project is to develop electrochemistry-based synthesis routes for MXenes using environmentally friendly chemicals. The developed techniques will be evaluated in terms of yield and the structural and electrochemical characteristics of MXenes will be correlated.
The etching process will be further optimized using scanning electrochemical microscopy. The technique enables the analysis of the localized electrochemical activity and the electrocatalytic activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction. This will provide a deeper knowledge about the etching process in two regards: The minimum time required to achieve full conversion of MAX phase to MXene on an electrode surface can be determined, and local differences in catalytic activity can be spotted and correlated with structural and chemical deviations.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructures
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopy
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsfuel cells
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinador
602 00 BRNO STRED
Chequia