CoSe2@MoSe2@Pt/NF heterostructure electrode for energy-efficient electrocatalytic coupling: Sustainable coproduction of azo-bridged energetic material and hydrogen

A green electrocatalytic system for co-production of SATz energetic material and H 2 . • Clean electrons replace hazardous chemical oxidants for SATz synthesis with SATz yield of 75.2%. • CoSe 2 @MoSe 2 @Pt/NF achieves 30 mV@10 mA·cm −2 and 192 mV@10 mA·cm −2 overpotential for HER. • Coupling system achieves low cell voltage of 1.44 V at 10 mA·cm −2 . Replacing the kinetically sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with thermodynamically more favorable electrochemical oxidation reactions represents an effective strategy to enhance energy efficiency and economic viability in water electrolysis. Herein, we designed a CoSe 2 @MoSe 2 @Pt/NF heterostructured catalytic electrode and construct an integrated electrocatalytic coupling system that enables the co-production of azo-bridged nitrogen-rich energetic material (sodium 5,5′-azotetrazolate, SATz) at the anode and clean hydrogen energy at the cathode. Mechanistic studies reveal that hydroxyl radicals generated via water electrolysis initiate the oxidative coupling of 5-aminotetrazole, achieving a SATz yield of 75.2% under optimized conditions. The CoSe 2 @MoSe 2 @Pt/NF cathode exhibits exceptional HER catalytic activity with a low overpotential of 192 mV at 100 mA·cm −2 and a Tafel slope of 50.2 mV·dec −1 , along with remarkable stability. Notably, the assembled coupling system requires a substantially reduced cell voltage of only 1.44 V to achieve 10 mA·cm −2 , significantly lower than that of conventional overall water splitting (>1.71 V). This work presents a sustainable and energy-efficient strategy for the simultaneous production of green energetic materials and clean hydrogen fuel, opening new avenues for advanced electrocatalytic coupling systems. Download: Download high-res image (166KB) Download: Download full-size image