Volume 137, Issue 9 e202420942
Forschungsartikel

Active Hydroxyl-Mediated Preferential Cleavage of Carbon-Carbon Bonds in Electrocatalytic Glycerol Oxidation

Qiang Zhang

Qiang Zhang

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Inner Mongolia Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalytic Conversion and Utilization of Carbon Resource Molecules, Inner Mongolia University, 49 Xilinguole South Road, Hohhot, 010020 P. R. China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), ​Investigation (lead), Writing - original draft (lead)

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Xiaojing Zhang

Xiaojing Zhang

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Inner Mongolia Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalytic Conversion and Utilization of Carbon Resource Molecules, Inner Mongolia University, 49 Xilinguole South Road, Hohhot, 010020 P. R. China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Data curation (supporting), Formal analysis (supporting), Writing - original draft (supporting)

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Prof. Baocang Liu

Corresponding Author

Prof. Baocang Liu

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Inner Mongolia Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalytic Conversion and Utilization of Carbon Resource Molecules, Inner Mongolia University, 49 Xilinguole South Road, Hohhot, 010020 P. R. China

Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Funding acquisition (lead), Supervision (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)

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Peng Jing

Peng Jing

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Inner Mongolia Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalytic Conversion and Utilization of Carbon Resource Molecules, Inner Mongolia University, 49 Xilinguole South Road, Hohhot, 010020 P. R. China

Contribution: Writing - review & editing (supporting)

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Xuan Xu

Xuan Xu

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Inner Mongolia Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalytic Conversion and Utilization of Carbon Resource Molecules, Inner Mongolia University, 49 Xilinguole South Road, Hohhot, 010020 P. R. China

Contribution: Writing - review & editing (supporting)

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Dr. Haigang Hao

Dr. Haigang Hao

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Inner Mongolia Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalytic Conversion and Utilization of Carbon Resource Molecules, Inner Mongolia University, 49 Xilinguole South Road, Hohhot, 010020 P. R. China

Contribution: Writing - review & editing (supporting)

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Prof. Rui Gao

Corresponding Author

Prof. Rui Gao

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Inner Mongolia Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalytic Conversion and Utilization of Carbon Resource Molecules, Inner Mongolia University, 49 Xilinguole South Road, Hohhot, 010020 P. R. China

Contribution: Funding acquisition (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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Prof. Jun Zhang

Corresponding Author

Prof. Jun Zhang

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Inner Mongolia Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalytic Conversion and Utilization of Carbon Resource Molecules, Inner Mongolia University, 49 Xilinguole South Road, Hohhot, 010020 P. R. China

School of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, 81 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot, 010022 P. R. China

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Funding acquisition (lead), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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First published: 07 January 2025
Citations: 1

Abstract

Electrocatalytic glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) to produce high-value formic acid (FA) is hindered by high formation potential of active species and sluggish C−C bond cleavage kinetics. Herein, Ni single-atom (NiSA) and Co single-atom (CoSA) dual sites anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes embedded with Ni0.1Co0.9 alloy (Ni0.1Co0.9@NiSACoSA-NCNTs) are constructed for electrochemical GOR. Remarkably, it can reach 10 mA cm−2 at a low potential of 1.15 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE) and realize a high formate selectivity of 93.27 % even at high glycerol conversion of 98.81 % at 1.45 V vs. RHE. The GOR mechanism and pathway are systematically elucidated via experimental analyses and theoretical calculations. It is revealed that the active hydroxyl (*OH) can be produced during the GOR. The NiSA, CoSA, and Ni0.1Co0.9 synergistically optimizes the electronic structure of CoSA active sites, reducing the energy barriers of *OH-mediated cleavage of C−C bonds and dehydrogenation of C1 intermediates. This decreases the number of reaction intermediates and reaction steps of GOR-to-FA, thus increasing the formate production efficiency. After coupling GOR with hydrogen evolution reaction in a membrane electrode assembly cell, 14.26 g of formate and 23.10 L of H2 are produced at 100 mA cm−2 for 108 h.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

Research data are not shared.

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