Enabling highly effective underwater oxygen-consuming reaction at solid-liquid-air triphasic interface

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 512; p. 145747
• Main Authors: Bai, Jie, Wang, Qiang, Yu, Hailing, Yang, Lei, Han, Jiecai, Dai, Bing, Zhu, Jiaqi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.05.2020
• Subjects: Electrodes; Nano-onions; Superhydrophobicity; Underwater reaction; Wenzel-Cassie coexistent wetting state; Electrodes; Wenzel-Cassie coexistent wetting state; Underwater reaction; Superhydrophobicity; Nano-onions
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.145747

The Wenzel-Cassie coexistent underwater wetting state is the key to enabling highly effective underwater oxygen-consuming reactions. [Display omitted] •The superhydrophobic and conductive carbon nano-onions were prepared by a simple one-step microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition.•The fabricated carbon nano-onions were used to modify the surfaces of various materials and structures toward their application to self-cleaning, oil-water separation, and enabling highly effective underwater oxygen-consuming reactions.•The Wenzel-Cassie coexistent underwater wetting state is the key to enabling highly effective underwater oxygen-consuming reactions. Electrode surfaces with superhydrophobic and conductive properties exhibit a unique energy-mass transfer behavior in electrolytes. Therefore, the rational design of electrode surface structures, conductivity, and infiltration performance is expected to yield more efficient electrochemical reactions and solve the gas-deficit problem that hinders many underwater gas-consuming reaction systems. In this paper, hydrogenated carbon nano-onions displaying superhydrophobicity and conductivity were prepared by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, which exhibited remarkable transferability and designability. The fabricated carbon nano-onions were used to modify the surfaces of various materials and structures toward their application to self-cleaning, oil-water separation, and enabling highly effective underwater oxygen-consuming reactions. Systematic analyses of the different wetting states of the superhydrophobic electrodes coated with the fabricated carbon nano-onions indicated that the different wetting states have important effects on their behaviors for underwater nucleation reactions, thus changing the efficiency of underwater oxygen-consuming reaction systems. The results reveal that designing a superhydrophobic electrode with a Wenzel-Cassie coexistent underwater wetting state, rather than a Cassie state or Wenzel state, is the key to enabling highly effective underwater oxygen-consuming reactions.