Recent Progress and Approaches on Carbon-Free Energy from Water Splitting

Abstract

HIGHLIGHTS• Different approaches for efficient carbon-free energy from water splitting are summarized.• Step-wise evolution of water splitting research is highlighted with current progress.• It describes the open challenges of charge transport properties and future research direction.ABSTRACT Sunlight is the most abundant renewable energy resource, providing the earth with enough power that is capable of taking care of all of humanity's desires-a hundred times over. However, as it is at times diffuse and intermittent, it raises issues concerning how best to reap this energy and store it for times when the Sun is not shining. With increasing population in the world and modern economic development, there will be an additional increase in energy demand. Devices that use daylight to separate water into individual chemical elements may well be the answer to this issue, as water splitting produces an ideal fuel. If such devices that generate fuel were to become widely adopted, they must be low in cost, both for supplying and operation. Therefore, it is essential to research for cheap technologies for water ripping. This review summarizes the progress made toward such development, the open challenges existing, and the approaches undertaken to generate carbon-free energy through water splitting.

Three-Phase Heterojunction NiMo-Based Nano-Needle for Water Splitting at Industrial Alkaline Condition

“…Electrochemical water splitting (WS) is considered as a green and convenient method for producing hydrogen (H 2 ) [1][2][3][4]. However, the practical water electrolysis is limited by the sluggish kinetics at cathode (hydrogen evolution reaction, HER) and anode (oxygen evolution reaction, OER) [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. For industrial WS catalyst, these requirements must be met: (1) stable and high active sites at large current density [12]; (2) continuous intensive gas evolution [13,14]; (3) fast electron transfer [15,16]; (4) low-cost and accessibility [17,18].…”

N-Doped Graphene-Decorated NiCo Alloy Coupled with Mesoporous NiCoMoO Nano-sheet Heterojunction for Enhanced Water Electrolysis Activity at High Current Density

“…Water electrolysis (WE) can convert renewable sources (i.e., solar, wind) into H 2 with clean and high energy density, but the sluggish kinetics of hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction (HER and OER) at cathode and anode will hinder its efficiency [ 1 – 4 ]. Although Pt-/Ir-/Ru-based materials are the best choice to accelerate these two half-reactions, the large-scale hydrogen production is still limited by its shortage and high price [ 5 – 7 ].…”

Nonphotocatalytic Water Splitting Process to Generate Green Electricity in Alkali Doped Zinc Oxide Based Hydroelectric Cell

“…The water molecule splitting reaction at the metal oxide surface holds great promise for energy generation applications. − Among all other methods of water molecule dissociation, photocatalytic and electrocatalytic splitting of water molecules using sunlight or electricity are the most effective ways to produce hydrogen due to their high sustainability. − But low abundance and the high cost of noble metal catalysts and a lot of required energy input limits the practical applications of these technologies. On the other hand, an innovative method for direct water molecule splitting at the metal oxide surface of the hydroelectric cell has been recently reported by Kotnala et al − Hydroelectric cell (HEC) splits water molecules at the metal oxide/ferrite surface directly in H + and OH – ions initially by chemidissociation, followed by physidissociation of water molecules onto defect centers.…”