Low-voltage paired electrolysis via MOF-derived hierarchical Pt–Cu electrocatalysts for integrated hydrogen production and chemical upgrading

Abstract

Integrating value-added chemical upgrading with energy-efficient hydrogen production represents a promising strategy for sustainable electrochemical systems. Herein, we report MOF-derived Pt-incorporated Cu catalysts directly grown on Cu foam (Pt–Cu/CF) as self-supported catalyst-electrode composites for coupled furfural electrochemical hydrogenation (FEH) and formaldehyde oxidation reaction (FOR). The MOF-derived hierarchical porous structure ensures highly dispersed metallic active sites, while Pt incorporation lowers the carbonyl hydrogenation barrier for FEH and establishes a kinetically balanced C–H cleavage/hydrogen recombination profile for FOR, resulting in superior bifunctional activity and selectivity. When integrated into an anion exchange membrane paired electrolyzer (Pt–Cu/CF‖Pt–Cu/CF), the system achieves 10 mA cm⁻² at an ultralow operating cell voltage of 0.197 V, which is 1.60 V lower than that required for the conventional HER‖OER process under identical device configurations, directly translating to a substantial reduction in electrical energy consumption. These results demonstrate that MOF-derived hierarchical architecture and Pt-induced electronic modulation of Cu collectively enable high bifunctional activity, establishing a design principle for energy-efficient paired electrolysis systems.