Achieving over 90% Faradaic Efficiency in Cyclohexanone Oxime Electrosynthesis Using the Cu–Mo Dual-Site Catalyst
Runyao Zhao, Yiding Wang, Jiaju Fu, Fengtao Zhang, Linzi Wen, Yanfei Zhao, Bo Guan, Buxing Han, Zhimin Liu
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Coupling with the nitrate electroreduction reaction (NitRR), the electrosynthesis of cyclohexanone oxime (CHO, the vital feedstock in the nylon-6 industry) from cyclohexanone provides a promising alternative to the traditional energy consumption process. However, it still suffers from low efficiency because selective production of *NH 2 OH intermediate from NitRR under large current densities is challenging. We here report a Cu 1 MoO x /nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) electrocatalyst with high-density Cu–Mo dual sites for NitRR to selectively produce and stabilize *NH 2 OH, with the subsequent cyclohexanone oximation achieving the highest CHO Faradaic efficiency of 94.5% and a yield rate of 3.0 mol g –1 h –1 at an industrially relevant current density of 0.5 A cm –2 . Furthermore, in situ characterizations evidenced that the Cu–Mo dual sites in Cu 1 MoO x /NC effectively inhibited hydrodeoxygenation of hydroxyl-containing intermediates of NitRR, selectively producing *NH 2 OH and thus achieving cyclohexanone oximation with high efficiency. This work provides a high-performance catalyst for CHO electrosynthesis from nitrogenous waste, showing promising application potential in industrial production of CHO.