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Cobalt single atoms loading on carbon black for efficient hydrogen peroxide production

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Abstract

The production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by 2-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in acidic electrolytes is a promising alternative to the existing anthraquinone process. However, the development of cost-effective catalysts with high activity for H2O2 electrosynthesis remains a great challenge. Here, we report a cobalt-nitrogen-carbon catalyst in which cobalt single atoms are supported on carbon black (Co-N-CB) for the electrosynthesis of H2O2 in an acid medium. The prepared Co-N-CB shows high activity for O2 reduction into H2O2 with an average selectivity of 80.6% over a wide potential range of 0.1–0.7 V vs. RHE in 0.1 M HClO4 electrolytes. We found that (i) the Co single atoms are the active sites of 2-electron ORR; (ii) a catalyst for efficient H2O2 production by O2 reduction should achieve a good balance between high ORR activity and H2O2 selectivity. Using Co-N-CB as a cathodic catalyst, the electrochemical device could electrosynthesize H2O2 directly from H2 and O2 with a high productivity of 291.0 mol kgcat−1 h−1. Our work provides a flexible way to prepare affordable catalysts for efficient H2O2 electrosynthesis.

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Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper, and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound in Medicine and Engineering (2023KFKT022) and the Dianchi Lake Ecosystem Observation and Research Station of Yunnan Province (202305AM340008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Sciences and Technology, Yunnan Province Engineering Research Center of Photocatalytic Treatment of Industrial Wastewater, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, China

    Wei Li, Yi Zhao, Chunyan Zhang, Juanxue Kang & Qinyuan Tang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Yongfei Liu

  3. Dianchi Lake Ecosystem Observation and Research Station of Yunnan Province, Kunming Branch of Yunnan Hydrology and Water Resources Bureau, Kunming, 650228, China

    Lin Yang & Shutang Yuan

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  1. Wei Li
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Contributions

W.L. designed the research and carried out the syntheses, measurements, and data analyses. Y.Z., C.Z., J.K., Q.T., L.Y., and S.Y. assisted in the preparation of samples and production of charts. Y.L. assisted in the electrochemical measurements. W.L. supervised the research, wrote, and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wei Li.

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Li, W., Zhao, Y., Zhang, C. et al. Cobalt single atoms loading on carbon black for efficient hydrogen peroxide production. Ionics 30, 1773–1783 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-023-05357-5

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