Recent advances in electrocatalysts for seawater splitting in hydrogen evolution reaction

Electrocatalytic water splitting is an important method to produce green and renewable hydrogen (H₂). One of the hindrances for wide applications of electrocatalysis in H₂ production is the lack of freshwater resources. Comparatively, seawater splitting has become an effective approach for large-scale H₂ production due to its abundant reserves. However, the increased complexity of seawater content emerged more problems in electrocatalytic seawater splitting. Recently, various strategies have been reported on improving the performance of electrocatalysts applied in seawater. Herein, this review firstly analyzed the mechanisms and challenges of electrocatalytic seawater splitting to evolve H₂, and summarized the recent progress on H₂ production in electrocatalytic seawater splitting. Furthermore, suggestions for future work have been provided for guidance.     

A review of hydrogen production processes by photocatalytic water splitting – From atomistic catalysis design to optimal reactor engineering

‘Renewable energy is an essential part of our strategy of decarbonization, decentralization, as well as digitalization of energy.’ – Isabelle Kocher.Current climate, health and economic condition of our globe demands the use of renewable energy and the development of novel materials for the efficient generation, storage and transportation of renewable energy. Hydrogen has been recognised as one of the most prominent carriers and green energy source with challenging storage, enabling decarbonization. Photocatalytic H₂ (green hydrogen) production processes are targeting the intensification of separated solar energy harvesting, storage and electrolysis, conventionally yielding O₂/H₂. While catalysis is being investigated extensively, little is done on bridging the gap, related to reactor unit design, optimisation and scaling, be it that of material or of operation. Herein, metals, oxides, perovskites, nitrides, carbides, sulphides, phosphides, 2D structures and heterojunctions are compared in terms of parameters, allowing for efficiency, thermodynamics or kinetics structure–activity relationships, such as the solar-to-hydrogen (STH). Moreover, prominent pilot systems are presented summarily.     

Investigation of liquid water heterogeneities in large area proton exchange membrane fuel cells using a Darcy two-phase flow model in a multiphysics code

Proper management of the liquid water and heat produced in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells remains crucial to increase both its performance and durability. In this study, a two-phase flow and multicomponent model, called two-fluid model, is developed in the commercial COMSOL Multiphysics® software to investigate the liquid water heterogeneities in large area PEM fuel cells, considering the real flow fields in the bipolar plate. A macroscopic pseudo-3D multi-layers approach has been chosen and generalized Darcy's relation is used both in the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and in the channel. The model considers two-phase flow and gas convection and diffusion coupled with electrochemistry and water transport through the membrane. The numerical results are compared to one-fluid model results and liquid water measurements obtained by neutron imaging for several operating conditions. Finally, according to the good agreement between the two-fluid and experimentation results, the numerical water distribution is examined in each component of the cell, exhibiting very heterogeneous water thickness over the cell surface.     

Modeling unaccounted-for gas among residential natural gas consumers using a comprehensive fuzzy cognitive map

Residential natural gas consumption depends on several factors. Available tools and methods to identify, categorize, and validate effective factors have some limitations, making consumption modeling more complex. Once a comprehensive model of effective consumption factors is developed for residential gas consumers, it can predict consumption. In addition, such a model could be used to verify the accuracy of measuring devices in order to reduce unaccounted for gas (UFG). The key factors affecting residential gas consumption were identified based on previous studies and their mutual effects were analyzed using a fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) method. The most significant factors and their effects on natural gas consumption in the residential sector were determined. In this study, for the first time, the expected consumption for each consumer was estimated using a consumption index. Generally, if the estimated consumption is significantly different from the amount recorded by the meter, it could suggest a potential source of UFG. The proposed method was applied to the data collected from the residential gas consumers of a small region in Iran (Dasht-e Arjan region, Fars province), and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

The dynamic effect of Micro-MHD convection on bubble grown at a horizontal microelectrode

Relatively low efficiency is the biggest obstacle to the popularization of water electrolysis, which is a particularly feasible way to produce super-pure hydrogen. Imposing a magnetic field can increase the hydrogen production efficiency of water electrolysis. However, the enhancement's detailed mechanism still lacks an insightful understanding of the bubbles' micro vicinity. Our recent work aims to understand why the micro-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) convection hinders single bubbles' detachment on the microelectrode. A water electrolysis experiment by microelectrode is performed under an electrode-normal magnetic field, and dynamic analysis of the single bubble growing on microelectrodes is performed. The variation of bubble diameter with time in the presence or absence of the magnetic field was measured, and the forces acting on the bubble were quantified. The result shows that the micro-MHD convection, induced by Lorentz force, can give rise to a downward hydrodynamic pressure force that will not appear in large-scale MHD convection. This force can be of the same magnitude as the surface tension, so it dramatically hinders bubbles' detachment. Besides, the Kelvin force provides a new potential way for further improving the efficiency of water electrolysis.     

Designing independent water transport channels to improve water flooding in ultra-thin nanoporous film cathodes for PEMFCs

Utilization of 3D nanostructured Pt cathodes could obviously improve performances of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) owing to the reduced tortuosity and the bi-continuous nanoporous structure. However, these cathodes usually suffer from the flooding problem ascribed to the ionomer-free and nanoscale pores which are more susceptible to water condensation. In this paper, ultra-thin nanoporous metal films (100 nm) were utilized to construct PEMFC cathodes and independent transport channels were designed separately for water and gas aiming at the flooding problem. Nanoporous gold (NPG) film was used as the model support for loading Pt nanoparticles owing to its controllable and stable structure. After optimizing the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) content and carbon loading in the gas diffusion layer (GDL), plasma treatment under O₂ atmosphere was used to pattern the GDL with independent water transport channels. The obtained liquid permeation coefficients and oxygen gains demonstrated the obviously improved water and O₂ transport. By using a home-made optimized GDL and a nanoporous film cathode with pore size ～60 nm, the flooding problem could be facilely solved. With a Pt loading of ～16 μg cm^?2, this 3D nanostructured cathode exhibits a PEMFC performance of ～957 mW cm^?2 at 80 °C. The Pt power efficiency is about 4 times higher than that of the commercial Pt/C cathode (50 μg cm^?2, 756 mW cm^?2). Obviously, this study provides a simple but effective methodology to solve the water flooding problem in the ultra-thin nanoporous film cathodes which is applicable for other types of 3D nanostructured PEMFC cathodes.     

Numerical study of entropy generation in Darcy-Forchheimer (D-F) Bödewadt flow of CNTs

Three-dimensional Bödewadt flow (fluid rotates at a large enough distance from the stationary plate) of carbon nanomaterial is examined. Single walled and multi walled CNTs are dissolved in water and gasoline oil baseliquids. Darcy-Forchheimer porous medium is considered. Stationary disk is further stretched linearly in radial direction. Heat transfer effect is examined in presence of radiation and convection. Effect of viscous dissipation is accounted. Entropy generation rate is studied. By using adequate transformation (von Kármán relations), the flow field equations (PDEs) are transmitted into ODEs. Solutions to these ODEs are constructed via implementation of shooting method (bvp4c). In addition to Entropy generation rate, Bejan number, heat transfer rate (Nusselt number), skin friction and temperature of fluid are examined through involved physical parameters. Axial component of velocity intensifies with increment in nanoparticles volume fraction and ratio of stretching rate to angular velocity parameter while it decays with higher porosity parameter. Higher nanoparticles volume fraction and porosity parameter lead to decay in radial as well as tangential component of velocity. However it enhances with higher ratio of stretching rate to angular velocity parameter. Temperature of fluid directly varies with higher ratio of stretching rate to angular velocity parameter, radiation parameter, Eckert number, Biot number and nanoparticles volume fraction. Rate of Entropy generation is reduced with higher estimations of porosity parameter, nanoparticles volume fraction and radiation parameter. Skin friction coefficient decays with higher porosity parameter and ratio of stretching rate to angular velocity parameter. Intensification in porosity parameter, nanoparticles volume fraction and Biot number leads to higher Nusselt number. Prominent impact is shown by multiple-walled CNTs with gasoline oil basefluid than single-walled CNTs with water basefluid.     

Fault handling in large water networks with online dictionary learning

Fault detection and isolation in water distribution networks is an active topic due to the nonlinearities of flow propagation and recent increases in data availability due to sensor deployment. Here, we propose an efficient two-step data driven alternative: first, we perform sensor placement taking the network topology into account; second, we use incoming sensor data to build a network model through online dictionary learning. Online learning is fast and allows tackling large networks as it processes small batches of signals at a time. This brings the benefit of continuous integration of new data into the existing network model, either in the beginning for training or in production when new data samples are gathered. The proposed algorithms show good performance in our simulations on both small and large-scale networks.     

Using a Discrete-Event System Specifications (DEVS) for designing a Modelica compiler

We introduce a new architecture for the design of a tool for modeling and simulation of continuous and hybrid systems. The environment includes a compiler based on Modelica, a modular and a causal standard specification language for physical systems modeling (the tool supports models composed using certain component classes defined in the Modelica Standard Library, and the instantiation, parameterization and connection of these MSL components are described using a subset of Modelica). Models are defined in Modelica and are translated into DEVS models. DEVS theory (originally defined for modeling and simulation of discrete event systems) was extended in order to permit defining these of models. The different steps in the compiling process are show, including how to model these dynamic systems under the discrete event abstraction, including examples of model simulation with their execution results.     

Kinetics of light-induced degradation in compensated boron-doped silicon investigated using photoluminescence and numerical simulation

We use photoluminescence to observe light-induced degradation in silicon in real time. Numerical simulations are used to match our results and lifetime decay data from the literature with theoretical models for the generation of the light-induced boron–oxygen defects. It is found that the existing model of the slowly generated defect SRC, where its saturated concentration is a function of the majority carrier concentration, does not explain certain results in both p- and n-type samples. A new model is proposed in which the saturated SRC concentration is controlled by the total hole concentration under illumination.