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Selective oxygen electroreduction to hydrogen peroxide in acidic media: The superiority of single-atom catalysts

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Abstract

Two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e-ORR) provides an environmentally friendly direction for the on-site production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Central to this technology is the exploitation of efficient, economical, and safe 2e-ORR electrocatalysts. This overview starts with the fundamental chemistry of ORR to highlight the decisive role of adsorbing intermediates on the reaction pathway and activity, followed by a comprehensive survey of the tuning strategies to favor 2e-ORR on traditional precious metals. The latest achievements in designing efficient and selective precious-metal-based single-atom catalysts (SACs) and metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-Nx/C) catalysts, from the aspects of material synthesis, theoretical calculations, and mass transport promotion, are systematically summarized. Brief introductions on the evaluation metrics for 2e-ORR catalysts and the primary reactor designs for cathodic H2O2 synthesis are also included. We conclude this review with an outlook on the challenges and direction of efforts to advance electrocatalytic 2e-ORR into realistic H2O2 production.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22209102) and Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province (No. 202203021212398).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Magnetic Molecules and Magnetic Information Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan, 030032, China

    Ergui Luo, **gyi Liang, Yuhong Chang, Junming Zhang, Tianjun Hu & Jianfeng Jia

  2. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Tongtong Yang & Junjie Ge

  3. State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytic Chemistry, Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Low Carbon Chemistry Power, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China

    Tongtong Yang

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  1. Ergui Luo
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  2. Tongtong Yang
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  3. **gyi Liang
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  4. Yuhong Chang
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  5. Junming Zhang
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  6. Tianjun Hu
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  7. Junjie Ge
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  8. Jianfeng Jia
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Correspondence to Junming Zhang, Junjie Ge or Jianfeng Jia.

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Luo, E., Yang, T., Liang, J. et al. Selective oxygen electroreduction to hydrogen peroxide in acidic media: The superiority of single-atom catalysts. Nano Res. 17, 4668–4681 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-024-6505-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-024-6505-9

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