Issue 18, 2020

Isolated single-atom Pt sites for highly selective electrocatalytic hydrogenation of formaldehyde to methanol

Abstract

The direct electrochemical conversion of noxious formaldehyde into value-added chemicals is a quite promising technique for resolving the increasingly serious environmental issue arising from industrial formaldehyde-containing wastewater. However, thus far, it has not been examined, to the best of our knowledge. This study reports the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of formaldehyde to methanol in a neutral aqueous medium under ambient conditions over a Pt single-atom catalyst, and this catalyst exhibits a favorable methanol yield rate and a high faradaic efficiency of 30.7 mg h−1 mgcat.−1 and 95.8% at −0.8 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na2SO4. Also, it exhibits excellent durability. Atomic-scale structural characterization and theoretical calculations revealed that the above-mentioned efficient performance is related to atomically dispersed Pt–O sites, which could lower the free-energy change for the chemisorption of formaldehyde and activate the C–H bond.

Graphical abstract: Isolated single-atom Pt sites for highly selective electrocatalytic hydrogenation of formaldehyde to methanol

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Jan 2020
Accepted
14 Mar 2020
First published
17 Mar 2020

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2020,8, 8913-8919

Isolated single-atom Pt sites for highly selective electrocatalytic hydrogenation of formaldehyde to methanol

S. Zhao, Y. Wen, X. Peng, Y. Mi, X. Liu, Y. Liu, L. Zhuo, G. Hu, J. Luo and X. Tang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2020, 8, 8913 DOI: 10.1039/D0TA00190B

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