Cu/C Composite Electrocatalysts for Electrochemical Production of Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O[Formula: see text] is an important chemical with wide fields of applications in the chemical industry, medicine and environmental protection. The preparation of H2O2 by the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) via the two-electron pathway has the advantages of simple operation and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, the kinetics of ORR is relatively slow, and the energy efficiency of electrochemical synthesis of H2O2 is seriously limited by the competitive four-electron pathway. Therefore, the electrosynthesis of H2O2 requires an electrocatalyst with both high catalytic activity and selectivity. In this study, Cu nanoparticles supported on carbon composites (Cu/C) were proposed and had been applied as the catalysts for the electrochemical synthesis of H2O2. Taking advantage of the cross-linking reaction between sodium alginate (SA) and metal ions, Cu nanoparticles were directly supported on carbon materials. The porous structure of carbon materials and the introduction of Cu improved the H2O2 selectivity of the catalysts. In O2-saturated 0.1[Formula: see text]M KOH, the optimized catalyst exhibited good activity with a selectivity of 88–90% in the potential range of 0.2–0.6[Formula: see text]V for the electrosynthesis of H2O2, and the selectivity remained 70% after 6[Formula: see text]h of operation.