Hydrogenation versus hydrogenolysis during alkaline electrochemical valorization of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural over oxide-derived Cu-bimetallics.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37543599.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-40463-y and PMC identifier 10404266.
- 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
The electrochemical conversion of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural, especially its reduction, is an attractive green production pathway for carbonaceous e-chemicals. We demonstrate the reduction of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural to 5-Methylfurfurylalcohol under strongly alkaline reaction environments over oxide-derived Cu bimetallic electrocatalysts. We investigate whether and how the surface catalysis of the MO<sub>x</sub> phases tune the catalytic selectivity of oxide-derived Cu with respect to the 2-electron hydrogenation to 2.5-Bishydroxymethylfuran and the (2 + 2)-electron hydrogenation/hydrogenolysis to 5-Methylfurfurylalcohol. We provide evidence for a kinetic competition between the evolution of H<sub>2</sub> and the 2-electron hydrogenolysis of 2.5-Bishydroxymethylfuran to 5-Methylfurfurylalcohol and discuss its mechanistic implications. Finally, we demonstrate that the ability to conduct 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural reduction to 5-Methylfurfurylalcohol in alkaline conditions over oxide-derived Cu/MO<sub>x</sub> Cu foam electrodes enable an efficiently operating alkaline exchange membranes electrolyzer, in which the cathodic 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural valorization is coupled to either alkaline oxygen evolution anode or to oxidative 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural valorization.