Journal article
ZnO as an Active and Selective Catalyst for Electrochemical Water Oxidation to Hydrogen Peroxide
Electrochemical synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) via two-electron water oxidation reaction (2e-WOR) is an ideal process for delocalized production for water cleaning and other applications. Previously reported water oxidation catalysts have limited activity and selectivity, imposing a bottleneck for broad adaption of this technology.
We identify ZnO as a new stable, non-toxic, active and selective catalyst for 2e-WOR to generate H2O2. Using density functional theory calculations, we propose that the (101 ̅0) facet of ZnO is an exceptional catalyst for 2e-WOR and confirm the prediction experimentally. We synthesize ZnO nanoparticles with a high fraction of (101 ̅0) facets and find that this catalyst gives an overpotential of 40 mV at 0.1 mA/cm2, and peak Faradaic efficiency of 81 % towards H2O2 evolution.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | American Chemical Society |
Year: | 2019 |
Pages: | 4593-4599 |
ISSN: | 21555435 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1021/acscatal.8b04873 |
ORCIDs: | 0000-0001-9424-2489 , 0000-0003-4682-0621 , 0000-0001-6774-0941 , 0000-0002-1192-4634 , 0000-0002-8889-7873 and Nørskov, Jens K. |