Highly efficient electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide on a superhydrophobic three-phase interface by natural air diffusion.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32265452.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-15597-y and PMC identifier 7138826.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>) synthesis by electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction has attracted great attention as a green substitute for anthraquinone process. However, low oxygen utilization efficiency (<1%) and high energy consumption remain obstacles. Herein we propose a superhydrophobic natural air diffusion electrode (NADE) to greatly improve the oxygen diffusion coefficient at the cathode about 5.7 times as compared to the normal gas diffusion electrode (GDE) system. NADE allows the oxygen to be naturally diffused to the reaction interface, eliminating the need to pump oxygen/air to overcome the resistance of the gas diffusion layer, resulting in fast H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production (101.67 mg h<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup>) with a high oxygen utilization efficiency (44.5%-64.9%). Long-term operation stability of NADE and its high current efficiency under high current density indicate great potential to replace normal GDE for H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> electrosynthesis and environmental remediation on an industrial scale.