Abstract
Rational Design of Carbon Nanostructures for Selective Hydrogen Peroxide Electrosynthesis
Meeting abstracts (Electrochemical Society), Vol.MA2025-02(9), pp.1050-1050
11/24/2025
DOI: 10.1149/MA2025-0291050mtgabs
Abstract
Sustainable production of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) via electrochemical oxygen reduction presents significant advantages over the traditional anthraquinone process. However, achieving selective two-electron reduction typically requires precious metal catalysts. Here, we report a simple oxygen plasma treatment that introduces controlled defects into commercial carbon black, creating a metal-free electrocatalyst with 100% Faradaic efficiency toward H 2 O 2 at 0.60 V vs. RHE. The catalyst exhibits an exceptional onset potential (0.80 V vs. RHE) and mass activity (300 A g -1 ), outperforming state-of-the-art catalysts.
Comprehensive characterization reveals that plasma treatment generates unique defect structures that promote selective oxygen reduction. Remarkably, high-temperature annealing to remove oxygen-containing groups maintains the high selectivity, demonstrating that carbon defects themselves direct the reaction pathway. Density functional theory calculations identify 555-777 defect structures at carbon edges as the active sites providing optimal binding energy for the *OOH intermediate.
This work provides fundamental insights into designing carbon nanostructures for selective electrochemical reactions and offers a practical approach for sustainable, on-demand H 2 O 2 production using abundant, inexpensive carbon materials. The achievement of 100% selective H₂O₂ production using a metal-free carbon catalyst represents a significant advancement for electrochemical synthesis of this important industrial chemical.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Rational Design of Carbon Nanostructures for Selective Hydrogen Peroxide Electrosynthesis
- Creators
- Zhe Wang - University of IowaQin-Kun Li - Rice UniversityBoris I. YakobsonJames M. Tour
- Resource Type
- Abstract
- Publication Details
- Meeting abstracts (Electrochemical Society), Vol.MA2025-02(9), pp.1050-1050
- DOI
- 10.1149/MA2025-0291050mtgabs
- ISSN
- 2151-2043
- eISSN
- 2151-2035
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/24/2025
- Academic Unit
- Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9985035036102771
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