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Beneficial Use of a Coordination Complex As the Junction Catalyst in a Bipolar Membrane
journal contribution
posted on 2020-05-21, 15:42 authored by Zijuan Ge, Muhammad Aamir Shehzad, Liang Ge, Yuan Zhu, Huijuan Wang, Geng Li, Jianjun Zhang, Xiaolin Ge, Liang Wu, Tongwen XuBipolar
membrane (BPM) has been used commercially in electrodialysis
separation processes for the generation of acid and base from aqueous
salt solutions and electrochemical water splitting processes for hydrogen
generation. Research advances have demonstrated that, upon a sufficient
applied reverse bias, water molecules at the junction zone of the
BPM can dissociate into protons (H+) and hydroxide anions
(OH–). Therefore, a stable and catalytic active
junction for rapid water dissociation is highly desired, but it still
remains a challenge for current bipolar membrane designs. Here, we
demonstrate a versatile strategy for fabricating a thin metal–polymer
coordination complex junction-based bipolar membrane. The complex
used consists of polyethylenimine (PEI) that coordinate to Fe(III)
centers through the amine–iron interaction (Fe(III)@PEI). The
unique coordination interaction enables to promote water dissociation
and suppress catalyst leakage issue. In addition, to prevent junction
layer dehydration from highly efficient water dissociation, the cation-exchange
membrane containing porous water channels is utilized to sufficiently
replenish the water molecules consumed at the junction zone. Notably,
under a current density of 320 mA cm–2, Fe(III)@PEI-based
BPM exhibits a voltage of 1.88 V, which is 56 and 36% lower than PEI-based
BPM and FeCl3-based BPM, respectively. Moreover, during
a constant current density operation at 60 mA cm–2, Fe(III)@PEI-based BPM exhibits a much lower voltage increasing
speed (5.93 mV h–1) than the FeCl3-based
BPM (32.64 mV h–1), indicating the improved durability
of the metal–polymer coordination complex junction.