Electrocatalytic hydrodeoxygenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-dimethylfuran over POx modified Cu electrocatalyst: the promoting role of POx

Abstract

Conversion of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) by electrocatalysis is significant but challenging. The Cu-POx catalyst (CuP-CF-350-H) synthesized by the simple electrodeposition show high efficiency for C-O cleavage by suppressing the side reaction of aldehyde hydrogenation, and achieves 63.1% DMF selectivity at 92.0% HMF conversion. The synergistic presence of electron-deficient Cu sites and POx species provides a large number of active sites for protons stabilization and HMF adsorption, as well as the acidic sites for C-O cleavage. In addition, the oxygen deficient POx species in the catalyst promote the spillover of Hads (H*) from Cu sites to POx, reduces the surface H* coverage, and the provide sufficient protons for hydrodeoxygenation.