Synthesis
of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from saccharide biomass yields
humin-like furanic polymers (BFPs) as a byproduct. As a maiden attempt,
BFP was successfully separated and explored as an effective UV-shielding
agent by blending with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA, 0.5–2.0 wt
%). PVA/BFP composite films showed high stability and durability even
under extreme conditions, such as intense UV irradiation, sunlight
exposure, and thermal treatment, while retaining their UV-shielding
efficiency. The PVA/BFP (0.5–2.0 wt %) composite film showed
63–99% UV-shielding capacity in the entire UV range with 48–89%
optical transparency; in addition, the decolorized BFP composite film
showed superior UV-shielding efficiency (98%) with >98% optical
transparency.
Thermal stability of the film witnessed significant improvement, exhibiting
higher thermal degradation temperature (T
d, by 57 °C) and glass transition temperature (by 7.3 °C).
Further, the composite film exhibited an excellent mechanical strength
of 71 MPa and 338% strain to break, compared to the PVA film (25 MPa
mechanical strength and 177% strain), along with enhanced DMA storage
modulus. Application of UV shielding was demonstrated through rhodamine
B photodegradationstability,
which showed that incorporation of BFP resulted in mere 0.4% degradation
of rhodamine B, while neat PVA films showed 100% degradation. The
enhanced photostability of rhodamine B while using PVA/BFP is attributed
to the formation of BFP and PVA charge-transfer complexes.
In oxygen evolution reactions (OER) metal sulfides are the subject of extensive research. Copper‐molybdenum sulfides (CuMoS) that can be made a simple hydrothermal treatment are designed to reduce catalyst costs even more. Here, we demonstrate that binder free electrode composed of micro‐rod structure copper‐molybdenum sulfides on nickel foam (CuMoS/NF) can be employed as an active and robust bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting. CuMoS/NF catalyst displays an overpotential for OER of 358 mV (121 mV dec−1) and HER of 129 mV (101 mV dec−1) at current density of 10 mA cm−2. CuMoS/NF is stable for 60 hours with potential deviations in OER and HER of 2.8 % and 3.2 %, respectively. The active bifunctional CuMoS/NF electrode combination helps to fabricate a water electrolyser with 10 mA cm−2 current density at 1.65 V. CuMoS/NF//CuMoS/NF shows good stability over 60 hours with a potential deviation of 2.7 %. The earth‘s abundant non‐precious metal‐based electrode, and solar cell delivered continuous hydrogen and oxygen (1.65 V), making it possible to produce a significant quantity of hydrogen at a low‐cost and on a large‐scale.
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