Piezo-electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol with UV-ozone treated wurtzite zinc oxide nanostructures

发布时间：2023-10-19 点击次数：

• 关键字：FUEL-CELL; BIMETALLIC NANOPARTICLES; SUPPORT MATERIALS; CARBON; CATALYSTS; ELECTROOXIDATION; PERFORMANCE; COMPOSITE; ENERGY; NI
• 摘要：Leveraging mechanically-induced piezoelectric polarization, piezocatalysis emerges as a viable mechanism for enhancing the efficiency of catalytic processes. Nanostructured, catalytically active, rationally designed piezo-electric semiconductors can achieve high-performance catalysts for ious applications using cost-effective electrocatalytic pathways, such as mechanical stimuli. Here, we design and demonstrate for the first time cost-effective, high-performance piezo-electrocatalyst for anodic methanol oxidation, which is crucial for the practical application and deployment of direct methanol fuel cells in a iety of emerging clean energy tech-nologies. We synthesized wurtzite ZnO nanorods and nanosheets treated with UV-O3 to characterize and compare their efficacy for piezo-electrocatalytic methanol oxidation. The generation of piezoelectric polarization charges in nanostructured semiconducting ZnO catalysts significantly increased their electrocatalytic perfor-mance. By elucidating the charge transfer between mechanically-deformed ZnO nanostructures and methanol molecules, we identified the underlying mechanism for the piezo-electrocatalytic process for methanol oxidation. The facile synthesis of high-quality ZnO nanostructures enables low-cost, scalable manufacture and direct integration into electrocatalysts whose performance could be enhanced by harvesting mechanical energy that would otherwise be wasted in the working environment.
• 卷号：109
• 期号：
• 是否译文：否