Research progress of key materials for electrocatalytic valorization of alcohols coupled with hydrogen production

Abstract The electrolysis of water for hydrogen production based on green electricity is of great significance for achieving carbon neutrality. However, the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode, which requires a high overpotential, significantly limits the efficiency of water electrolysis for hydrogen production. In the field of green hydrogen production, traditional water electrolysis technologies face challenges such as slow kinetics of the anodic oxidation reaction and high production costs, severely limiting their commercialization. By using organic small molecule oxidation reactions with better thermodynamic and kinetic performance to replace traditional OER, energy consumption can be effectively reduced and energy efficiency improved, meanwhile the generation of value-added small molecule chemicals can also significantly enhance the technical and economic feasibility of this reaction pathway, thereby broadening the market application prospects of green hydrogen production technologies. This review focuses on the widely studied systems of electrocatalytic oxidation reactions of small molecule alcohols and their reaction mechanisms. We systematically summarize the research progress of high-performance anode catalytic materials systems applicable to alcohol small molecule electrolysis for hydrogen production. We also present the remaining challenges in electrocatalytic oxidation reactions of alcohols and prospects for future development directions in this field. The aim is to provide some guidance for the commercial application of anodic oxidation of small organic molecules for replacing OER.

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	PENG Xuan
	WU Xiaotong
	HUANG Shixian
	TAN Lei
	LIN Chao
	XIAO Qi
	LI Xiaopeng

Keywords： oxidation of small molecule alcohols hydrogen production by electrolysis metal catalysts electrocatalysis

Received 2024-07-20;

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PENG Xuan, WU Xiaotong, HUANG Shixian, TAN Lei, LIN Chao, XIAO Qi, LI Xiaopeng.Research progress of key materials for electrocatalytic valorization of alcohols coupled with hydrogen production[J] Chemcial Industry and Engineering, 2024,V41(5): 4-18

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