Nanotechnology makes biomass electrolysis more energy efficient than water electrolysis

Y X Chen; A Lavacchi; H A Miller; M Bevilacqua; J Filippi; M Innocenti; A Marchionni; W Oberhauser; L Wang; F Vizza

doi:10.1038/ncomms5036

Nanotechnology makes biomass electrolysis more energy efficient than water electrolysis

Nat Commun. 2014 Jun 3:5:4036. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5036.

Authors

Y X Chen¹, A Lavacchi², H A Miller², M Bevilacqua², J Filippi², M Innocenti³, A Marchionni², W Oberhauser², L Wang¹, F Vizza²

Affiliations

¹ 1] ICCOM-CNR, via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy [2] Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgieri 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy.
² ICCOM-CNR, via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
³ 1] ICCOM-CNR, via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy [2] Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Firenze, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.

PMID: 24892771
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5036

Abstract

The energetic convenience of electrolytic water splitting is limited by thermodynamics. Consequently, significant levels of hydrogen production can only be obtained with an electrical energy consumption exceeding 45 kWh kg(-1)H2. Electrochemical reforming allows the overcoming of such thermodynamic limitations by replacing oxygen evolution with the oxidation of biomass-derived alcohols. Here we show that the use of an original anode material consisting of palladium nanoparticles deposited on to a three-dimensional architecture of titania nanotubes allows electrical energy savings up to 26.5 kWh kg(-1)H2 as compared with proton electrolyte membrane water electrolysis. A net energy analysis shows that for bio-ethanol with energy return of the invested energy larger than 5.1 (for example, cellulose), the electrochemical reforming energy balance is advantageous over proton electrolyte membrane water electrolysis.