Deep eutectic solvents derived carbon-based efficient electrocatalyst for boosting H2 production coupled with glucose oxidation

The electrocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production is greatly limited by the sluggish anodic OER. Herein, a hybrid of cobalt nanoparticles supported in nitrogen doped porous carbon (Co@NPC) is prepared by using a biomass-based ternary deep eutectic solvent (DES) as precursor and self-templates, which is utlized as bifunctional electrocatalyst for boosting H2 generation and converting glucose into valuable chemicals simultaneously. Importantly, only a small cell voltage of 1.56 V is required to deliver 10 mA cm-2, which is 180 mV lower than that of overall water splitting. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that nitrogen doping porous carbon could synergistically optimize adsorption energies of H2O (Delta E*H2O) and *H adsorption free energies (Delta G*H), enhancing catalytic activity toward HER. This work highlights the potential application prospects of using glucose oxidation reaction (GOR) instead of OER to promote H2 generation and product valueadded chemicals.

Automated summary

This study prepared a hybrid of cobalt nanoparticles supported in nitrogen-doped porous carbon using a biomass-based deep eutectic solvent as a precursor, serving as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for efficient hydrogen generation and conversion of glucose into valuable chemicals with low cell voltage requirement.