Reconstituting Cu0/Cu+ synergy with heterostructured CeO2 enabling energy-efficient bipolar hydrogen generation

The establishment of electrocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production system with low energy consumption is of great significance for sustainable development. Herein, a groundbreaking achievement is presented by development of a bifunctional electrocatalyst (CeO2@Cu NRAs) on Cu foam, enabling simultaneously efficient catalysis of both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER, −0.18 VRHE at 10 mA cm−2) and furfural oxidation reaction (FFOR, 0.10 VRHE at 10 mA cm−2). The synergistic effect between Cu0 and Cu+ is investigated by density functional theory calculation, as well as the role of the heterostructured CeO2 played. Accordingly, subtle integration of such two half-reactions, the catalyst-assembled hydrogen system only requires an electrical input of 1.02 kWh per m3 of H2, which is one fifth of the energy consumed by conventional water electrolysis (5 kWh per m3 H2), signifying a compelling strategy for reducing energy consumption and improving the overall efficiency for hydrogen production.