(190j) Facile Glucose-Based Catalyst for Electrochemical Production of Hydrogen Peroxide

Electrochemical manufacture of H₂O₂ through two-electron oxygen reduction reaction is considered as a promising alternative to energy-intensive anthraquinone oxidation process to provide prospects of the distributed production of H₂O₂ in remote regions. One of the main challenges subjected to the field is developing catalysts with superior activity, selectivity and stability due to the strong competition of four-electron pathway. Carbon-based material have attracted surge of interest, nevertheless, those materials are still derived from petroleum or coal accompanied by the harsh synthesis process contained activation or oxidation. Hence, it’s prospective to choose low-cost and sustainable carbon precursor, and utilize their innate features adequately to prepare what we need. Here, glucose derived from biomass was selected as carbon precursor. Hydrothermal treatment and low temperature calcination were used to modify their surface properties as well as porous structure. The optimal catalyst, HGC-500, possesses superior performance with onset potential close to the thermodynamic limit, selectivity of 92% and mass activity of 43.6 A g_cat^-1.We conclude that can be attributed to the synergy effect of different oxygen functional groups as well as improved reactants mass transfer owning to the surface hydrophilicity. The HGC-500 can operate steadily for 12 h with remaining faradic efficiency of 95% and the accumulation of H₂O₂ can reach up to 4090±71 ppm. We carried out the UV/H₂O₂ advanced oxidation process with the H₂O₂ generated by electrochemical synthesis and it shows outstanding degradation performance for various pollutants.