Issue 11, 2020

Stable and selective electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide and the electro-Fenton process on CoSe2 polymorph catalysts

Abstract

Electrochemical synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in acidic solution can enable the electro-Fenton process for decentralized environmental remediation, but robust and inexpensive electrocatalysts for the selective two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e ORR) are lacking. Here, we present a joint computational/experimental study that shows both structural polymorphs of earth-abundant cobalt diselenide (orthorhombic o-CoSe2 and cubic c-CoSe2) are stable against surface oxidation and catalyst leaching due to the weak O* binding to Se sites, are highly active and selective for the 2e ORR, and deliver higher kinetic current densities for H2O2 production than the state-of-the-art noble metal or single-atom catalysts in acidic solution. o-CoSe2 nanowires directly grown on carbon paper electrodes allow for the steady bulk electrosynthesis of H2O2 in 0.05 M H2SO4 with a practically useful accumulated concentration of 547 ppm, the highest among the reported 2e ORR catalysts in acidic solution. Such efficient and stable H2O2 electrogeneration further enables the effective electro-Fenton process for model organic pollutant degradation.

Graphical abstract: Stable and selective electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide and the electro-Fenton process on CoSe2 polymorph catalysts

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Jun 2020
Accepted
14 Aug 2020
First published
14 Aug 2020

Energy Environ. Sci., 2020,13, 4189-4203

Author version available

Stable and selective electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide and the electro-Fenton process on CoSe2 polymorph catalysts

H. Sheng, A. N. Janes, R. D. Ross, D. Kaiman, J. Huang, B. Song, J. R. Schmidt and S. Jin, Energy Environ. Sci., 2020, 13, 4189 DOI: 10.1039/D0EE01925A

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