Bifunctional Ni Foam Supported TiO 2 @Ni 3 S 2 core@shell Nanorod Arrays for Boosting Electrocatalytic Biomass Upgrading and H 2 Production Reactions.

Replacing traditional oxygen evoltion reaction (OER) with biomass oxidation reaction (BOR) is an advantageous alternative choice to obtain green hydrogen energy from electrocatalytic water splitting. Herein, a novel of extremely homogeneous Ni 3 S 2 nanosheets covered TiO 2 nanorod arrays are in situ growth on conductive Ni foam (Ni/TiO 2 @Ni 3 S 2 ). The Ni/TiO 2 @Ni 3 S 2 electrode exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity and long-term stability for both BOR and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Especially, taking glucose as a typical biomass, the average hydrogen production rate of the HER-glucose oxidation reaction (GOR) two-electrode system reached 984.74 µmol h -1 , about 2.7 times higher than that of in a common HER//OER two-electrode water splitting system (365.50 µmol h -1 ). The calculated power energy saving efficiency of the GOR//HER system is about 13% less than that of the OER//HER system. Meanwhile, the corresponding selectivity of the value-added formic acid produced by GOR reaches about 80%. Moreover, the Ni/TiO 2 @Ni 3 S 2 electrode also exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity on a diverse range of typical biomass intermediates, such as urea, sucrose, fructose, furfuryl alcohol (FFA), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and alcohol (EtOH). These results show that Ni/TiO 2 @Ni 3 S 2 has great potential in electrocatalysis, especially in replacing OER reaction with BOR reaction and promoting the sustainable development of hydrogen production.