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Title: High-efficiency oxygen reduction to hydrogen peroxide catalysed by oxidized carbon materials

Journal Article · · Nature Catalysis

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a valuable chemical with a wide range of applications, but the current industrial synthesis of H2O2 involves an energy-intensive anthraquinone process. The electrochemical synthesis of H2O2 from oxygen reduction offers an alternative route for on-site applications; the efficiency of this process depends greatly on identifying cost-effective catalysts with high activity and selectivity. Here, we demonstrate a facile and general approach to catalyst development via the surface oxidation of abundant carbon materials to significantly enhance both the activity and selectivity (~90%) for H2O2 production by electrochemical oxygen reduction. We find that both the activity and selectivity are positively correlated with the oxygen content of the catalysts. In conclusion, the density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the carbon atoms adjacent to several oxygen functional groups (–COOH and C–O–C) are the active sites for oxygen reduction reaction via the two-electron pathway, which are further supported by a series of control experiments.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1458611
Journal Information:
Nature Catalysis, Vol. 1, Issue 2; ISSN 2520-1158
Publisher:
Springer NatureCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 789 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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The Rise of Hydrogen Peroxide as the Main Product by Metal‐Free Catalysis in Oxygen Reductions journal August 2018
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Chemical Approaches to Carbon‐Based Metal‐Free Catalysts journal January 2019
Guiding Principles for Designing Highly Efficient Metal‐Free Carbon Catalysts journal December 2018
Crafting Mussel‐Inspired Metal Nanoparticle‐Decorated Ultrathin Graphitic Carbon Nitride for the Degradation of Chemical Pollutants and Production of Chemical Resources journal January 2019
Recent Advances in Carbon‐Based Metal‐Free Electrocatalysts journal December 2018
Electrosynthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide Synergistically Catalyzed by Atomic Co–N x –C Sites and Oxygen Functional Groups in Noble‐Metal‐Free Electrocatalysts journal April 2019
Acetylene and Diacetylene Functionalized Covalent Triazine Frameworks as Metal‐Free Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Peroxide Production: A New Two‐Electron Water Oxidation Pathway journal November 2019
2D Electrocatalysts for Converting Earth‐Abundant Simple Molecules into Value‐Added Commodity Chemicals: Recent Progress and Perspectives journal October 2019
Electrocatalytic Production of Hydrogen Peroxide with Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) Electrodes journal October 2018
Water‐Soluble Organic Dyes as Molecular Photocatalysts for H 2 O 2 Evolution journal May 2019
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Isolated Diatomic Ni‐Fe Metal–Nitrogen Sites for Synergistic Electroreduction of CO 2 journal April 2019
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Optimization of Catalytic Sites in Cobalt‐Modified Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon towards High‐Performance Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts for Zinc‐Air Batteries journal December 2019
Progress in Nonmetal‐Doped Graphene Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal April 2019
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H 2 O 2 Production at Low Overpotentials for Electroenzymatic Halogenation Reactions journal October 2019
2 D Hybrid of Ni‐LDH Chips on Carbon Nanosheets as Cathode of Zinc–Air Battery for Electrocatalytic Conversion of O 2 into H 2 O 2 journal March 2020
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Facile synthesis of magnesium ferrite nanoparticles supported on nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon black as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction journal May 2019
Dispersive Single-Atom Metals Anchored on Functionalized Nanocarbons for Electrochemical Reactions journal January 2019
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Electrochemically derived functionalized graphene for bulk production of hydrogen peroxide journal March 2020

Figures / Tables (4)