2025 AIChE Annual Meeting

(584x) Electrochemical Refinery for Sustainable Hydrogen Peroxide Production Using Conducting Polymer and Metal Oxide

Authors

Penghui Ding, Linkoping University
Viktor Gueskine, Linkoping University
Robert Boyd, Linköping University
Grzegorz Greczynski, Linköping University
Per Leanderson, Linköping University
Ivan Kozyatnyk, Linköping University
Eric Daniel G?owacki, Linköping University
Magnus Odén, Linköping University
Reverant Crispin, Linköping University
Magnus Berggren, Linköping University
Emma Björk, Linköping University
Mikhail Vagin, Linköping University
Electrocatalysis offers a promising route to sustainable chemical production by utilizing renewable electricity and abundant precursors like water and oxygen.[1] This work presents an electrochemical refinery (e-refinery) for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 ) production, coupling oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The H2O2 production is achieved through an electrocatalysis-controlled comproportionation reaction. In the first approach,[2] we adopted conducting polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), as an ORR catalyst to form H2O2 at the cathode. OER over mesoporous nickel oxide (NiO) catalyst was used as auxiliary reaction. This system demonstrates the feasibility of sustainable H2O2 production utilizing only pure water and oxygen feed.

The second study explores a platinum group metal (PGM)-free H2O2 electrogenerator employing mesoporous chromium oxide (Cr2O3 ) for ORR and nickel-cobalt oxide (NiCo2O4 ) for OER.[3] Cr2O3 showed promising 2e-ORR activity with a H2O2 yield of 70% in alkaline media. Furthermore, the impact of electrolyte flow on the H2O2 electrogenerator's performance was investigated. It shows that one-way feeding of the catholyte can suppress catalyst deterioration and enhance faradaic conversion efficiency.

Both studies highlight the potential of PGM-free electrocatalysts in H2O2 electrosynthesis. The conducting polymers and metal oxides offers a sustainable alternative to the conventional anthraquinone process.

Reference:

1. Wang, Y.; Waterhouse, G. I. N.; Shang, L.; Zhang, T. Adv. Energy Mater. 2020, 11 (15), 2003323.

2. Wu, Z.; Ding, P.; Gueskine, V.; Boyd, R.; Głowacki, E. D.; Odén, M.; Crispin, X.; Berggren, M.; Björk, E. M.; Vagin, M. Energy Environ. Mater. 2022, 0, No. e12551.

3. Wu, Z; Vagin, M.; Boyd R,; Ding, P.; Leanderson, P.; Kozyatnyk, I.; Greczynski,G.; Odén, M.; and Björk, E. M. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2023, 6, 18748−18756.