In 2026, Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy published the work of Prof. Gao Qiang and Prof. Tao Xia (first author: Kang Zihu; DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2026.126841) on a bias-free integrated PEC system.
The team constructed a stable PEC EGOR || EC ORR system that upgrades ethylene glycol (EG) to formate under zero applied bias, pairing a NiPi/BiVO4 photoanode with a catalytic oxygen-reduction cathode.
V-O-P and P-O-Ni interfacial bonds form P-O bridges that extract and promote rapid charge transfer from the vanadium sites of BiVO4 to the nickel sites of NiPi, significantly accelerating ethylene glycol oxidation kinetics.
The system achieved a photocurrent density of 2.46 mA cm-2 at zero bias; after 20 h of stable operation the formate production rate reached 328.9 mmol m-2 h-1 with 93.5% selectivity.
Read the Chinese report: ACB: bias-free EGOR||ORR.
