Scalable and acid-resistance W-BiVO 4 photoanodes for photoelectrochemical glycerol valorization to value-added chemicals Deepak. K. Chauhan*, Pramod P. Kunturu, and Mihalis N. Tsampas* Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER), 5612AJ Eindhoven, The Netherlands. * Corresponding Author’s email address (D.Chauhan@differ.nl and M.Tsampas@differ.nl) Glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) is a crucial pathway for converting biomass into value-added chemicals and will play a vital role in the sustainable production of clean energy. 1,2 This process not only allows the valorization of glycerol into high-value chemicals such as dihydroxyacetone (DHA) and formic acid (FA) but also puts forward an alternative route to the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems as the kinetics of the GOR are comparatively more feasible than OER. However, achieving high efficiency and stability while maintaining selectivity remains a significant challenge in photoelectrode design. To address this, we investigated the glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) under varying electrolyte conditions and applied biases to understand reaction kinetics and product selectivity. In this study, we demonstrate the valorization of glycerol into DHA via a PEC process. We synthesized tungsten- doped bismuth vanadate (W-BiVO4) photoanodes using the Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR) technique on a Ti porous transport layer (PTL). We have recently highlighted the potential of PTLs as photoelectrode substrates to tackle a key challenge in the field, scaling up without significant loss in performance 3 . The unique porous structure enhances charge transfer while facilitating the diffusion of glycerol and its oxidation intermediates, improving overall reaction efficiency. Our results indicate that W-BiVO 4 photoanodes achieve efficient glycerol oxidation at 1 sun under acidic conditions (Na 2 SO 4 , pH 2), reducing the onset potential from 0.8 V to 0.45 V upon glycerol addition. The system demonstrates remarkable stability for up to 24 hours, with photocurrent densities up to 4.0 mA cm - ² at 1.2 V vs. RHE. Additionally, our study emphasizes the development of a zero-gap reactor 4 , offering a rational design for optimizing PEC glycerol oxidation. Acknowledgements: Co-funded by the European Union under grant agreement 101137889 (PH2OTOGEN). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Clean Hydrogen JU. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The project is supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and its members. References 1. Lu, Y., Lee, B.G., Lin, C., et al. , Nat Commun, 15, 5475 ( 2024 ). 2. J. Lin, I. Roh, and P. Yang, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023 , 145, 12987-12991. 3. P. P. Kunturu, M. Lavorenti, S. Bera, H. Johnson, S. Kinge, M. C. M. van de Sanden and M. N. Tsampas, ChemSusChem 2024 ,17. 4. P. P. Kunturu, S. Bera, H. Johnson, and M. N. Tsampas, Artificial Photosynthesis , 2025 , Article ASAP.
P20
© The Author(s), 2025
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog