3D coral-like Ni–Mo–S/NF bifunctional electrocatalyst for concurrent glycerol valorization to formate and energy-efficient H2 evolution

Electrolytic hydrogen production from water is a cost-effective renewable energy technology, but its development is severely constrained by high energy consumption, precious metal catalysts, and low-value products of anode. Given that inexpensive glycerol exhibits a significantly lower redox potential than water, this study developed a 3D coral-like nickel–molybdenum sulfur bifunctional nanocatalyst (Ni–Mo–S/NF) based on nickel foam, which served as both the anode and cathode in an alkaline glycerol electrolyte, enabling the simultaneous production of high-value formate at the anode and high-purity hydrogen at the cathode. Notably, in a two-electrode system, the alkaline glycerol electrolyzer required only 1.37 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2, which was 280 mV lower than that of an alkaline aqueous solution system, indicating an about 17% reduction in energy consumption compared to conventional water electrolysis. Meanwhile, this system reached a faradaic efficiency of 95.0% for formate production and 99.6% for hydrogen evolution. Benefiting from the outstanding performance of the noble-metal-free Ni–Mo–S/NF catalyst, the proposed technology for simultaneous formate and hydrogen production via glycerol electrooxidation offers a novel pathway for the green production of high-value chemicals and energy-saving hydrogen generation.