High activity nanostructured vanadium–nitrogen supported nickel foam as an electrode for efficient electrocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol

Abstract

Electrochemical oxidation is an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly reaction mode, but it is limited by the difficulty of fabricating electrode systems that can efficiently perform high-yield oxidation reactions at low potentials. Herein, we prepared V–N supported electrocatalysts with nickel foam as the electrode substrate (VO-N/NF nanocomposite) for electrocatalytic benzyl alcohol oxidation by a one-step hydrothermal method. Specifically, the VO-N/NF nanocomposite electrode can reach a current density of 100 mA cm⁻² at a low voltage of 1.395 V (vs. RHE) in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte with only 0.2 mmol metal precursor. The synergistic effect of high-valent nickel-based compounds, as well as the exposed active sites resulting from the dissolution of V elements in the process, makes it super-efficient and profitable for electrocatalytic oxidation. The best proof is that the conversion, selectivity, and faradaic efficiency reach 99.7%, 99.5%, and 99.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, the electrode performance remains good after repeated reactions, with the conversion of benzyl alcohol and faradaic efficiency both being above 98.5%. The design of the electrode provides a new idea to broaden the range of organic reactions carried out by electrocatalysis. And it also helps to reduce the high overpotential caused by the original oxygen evolution reaction.