5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Oxidation in Scaled Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer with NiCuO<sub><i>x</i></sub> Catalyst
Guoheng Ding, Husileng Lee, Xing Cao, Zhiheng Li, Junbo Liu, Linqin Wang, Yunxuan Ding, Liqiang Yin, Licheng Sun
Abstract
The utilization of anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers presents an opportunity for commercial production of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) through electrochemical oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Consequently, developing facile synthesis techniques of scaled-up electrocatalysts for HMF oxidation reaction (HMFOR) is a crucial step. Herein, we developed a one-step soaking method for preparing a 100 cm 2 NiCu-based catalyst on Ni foam (NiCuO x /NF) in 10 s. In a single-pass 25 cm 2 AEM electrolyzer assembled by the obtained catalyst, a high single-pass yield of ≥95.0% and selectivity of ≥99.9% were achieved to produce FDCA continuously with 200 mM HMF electrolyte. After 100 h of stable operation at 10 A, 207.28 g of FDCA was attained with a high purity of over 99%. This work provides valuable insights into developing industrial-scale electrocatalysts and the commercialization of biomass upgrading in AEM electrolyzers.