Strategies for Sustainable Production of Hydrogen Peroxide via Oxygen Reduction Reaction: From Catalyst Design to Device Setup
Yuhui Tian, Daijie Deng, Li Xu, Meng Li, Hao Chen, Zhenhua Wu, Shanqing Zhang
Abstract
Abstract An environmentally benign, sustainable, and cost-effective supply of H 2 O 2 as a rapidly expanding consumption raw material is highly desired for chemical industries, medical treatment, and household disinfection. The electrocatalytic production route via electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) offers a sustainable avenue for the on-site production of H 2 O 2 from O 2 and H 2 O. The most crucial and innovative part of such technology lies in the availability of suitable electrocatalysts that promote two-electron (2e – ) ORR. In recent years, tremendous progress has been achieved in designing efficient, robust, and cost-effective catalyst materials, including noble metals and their alloys, metal-free carbon-based materials, single-atom catalysts, and molecular catalysts. Meanwhile, innovative cell designs have significantly advanced electrochemical applications at the industrial level. This review summarizes fundamental basics and recent advances in H 2 O 2 production via 2e – -ORR, including catalyst design, mechanistic explorations, theoretical computations, experimental evaluations, and electrochemical cell designs. Perspectives on addressing remaining challenges are also presented with an emphasis on the large-scale synthesis of H 2 O 2 via the electrochemical route.