Laser-induced hydrothermal growth (LIHG) can occur in the ambient atmosphere to prepare integrated electrodes with dense nanosheet arrays on nickel foams for electrocatalysis (with or without further treatment). Credit: Yang Sha, Menghui Zhu, Kun Huang, Yang Zhang, Francis Moissinac, Zhizhou Zhang, Dongxu Cheng, Paul Mativenga and Zhu Liu.
Introducing a new technique based on a laser-induced hydrothermal reaction (LIHR) mechanism for the growth of binary metal oxide nanoarchitecture and layered-double hydroxides on nickel foams for electrocatalytic applications! Researchers from the UK and China just published this study in the journal International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing on 1 November 2023.
Producing hydrogen from water splitting on a large scale requires the development of electrocatalysts that can overcome energy barriers. Electrolytic production of hydrogen needs to be efficient, stable, and affordable.
Conventional methods to synthesize electrocatalysts are often time-consuming and energy-intensive. These challenges have led the researchers to develop an alternative, more rapid route than conventional hydrothermal treatment I by using laser irradiation of a substrate immersed in a liquid containing metal salt precursors.
Dr. Yang Sha said, “Such nanostructures produced by the LIHR exhibit excellent catalytical activity for overall water splitting, and more importantly, with superior durability under an industrial current density, to the majority of reported catalysts, and commercial precious metal catalysts. In addition, the LIHG improves the production rate by over 19 times but only consumes 27.78% of the total energy required by conventional hydrothermal methods to achieve the same production.”
Professor Zhu Liu, said, “LIHR was first reported in 2013 by Yeo et al. to produce local ZnO nanowires through photothermal reactions. This technique is rapid, versatile, scalable, and cost-effective, enabling direct synthesis of metal oxide nanostructures.”
This study offers a new route for the rapid synthesis of free-standing electrocatalytic electrodes via the laser-induced hydrothermal reaction (LIHR). Stay up to date with the latest developments in this field by checking out the original article
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