A clean and membrane-free chlor-alkali process with decoupled Cl2 and H2/NaOH production

作者：Hou, Mengyan; Chen, Long; Guo, Zhaowei; Dong, Xiaoli; Wang, Yonggang^*; Xia, Yongyao^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 438.

DOI：10.1038/s41467-018-02877-x

• SODIUM-ION BATTERIES
• OXYGEN DEPOLARIZED CATHODES
• POSITIVE ELECTRODE MATERIAL
• CHLORINE-PRODUCTION
• CELL
• EVOLUTION
• HYDROGEN
• BRINE
• PERFORMANCE
• NA0.44MNO2

Existing chlor-alkali processes generally use asbestos, mercury or fluorine-containing ion-exchange membranes to separate the simultaneous chlorine production on the anode and hydrogen production on the cathode, and form sodium hydroxide in the electrolyte. Here, using the Na+ de-intercalation/intercalation of a Na0.44MnO2 electrode as a redox mediator, we decouple the chlor-alkali process into two independent steps: a H-2 production step with the NaOH formation in the electrolyte and a Cl-2 production step. The first step involves a cathodic H-2 evolution reaction (H2O -> H-2) and an anodic Na+ de-intercalation reaction (Na0.44MnO2 -> Na0.44-xMnO2), during which NaOH is produced in the electrolyte solution. The second step depends on a cathodic Na+ intercalation reaction (Na0.44-xMnO2 -> Na0.44MnO2) and an anodic Cl-2 production (Cl -> Cl-2). The cycle of the two steps provides a membrane-free process, which is potentially a promising direction for developing clean chloralkali technology.

• 出版日期2018-1-30
• 单位复旦大学