Sustainable Furfural Biomass Feedstocks Electrooxidation toward Value-Added Furoic Acid with Energy-Saving H2 Fuel Production Using Pt-Decorated Co3O4 Nanospheres

Here, furfural oxidation was performed to replace the kinetically sluggish O-2 evolution reaction (OER). Pt-Co3O4 nanospheres were developed via pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) in a single step for the paired electrocatalysis of an H-2 evolution reaction (HER) and furfural oxidation reaction (FOR). The FOR afforded a high furfural conversion (44.2%) with a major product of 2-furoic acid after a 2-h electrolysis at 1.55 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in a 1.0-M KOH/50-mM furfural electrolyte. The Pt-Co3O4 electrode exhibited a small overpotential of 290 mV at 10 mA cm(-2). As an anode and cathode in an electrolyzer system, the Pt-Co3O4 electrocatalyst required only a small applied cell voltage of similar to 1.83 V to deliver 10 mA cm(-2), compared with that of the pure water electrolyzer (OER parallel to HER, similar to 1.99 V). This study simultaneously realized the integrated production of energy-saving H-2 fuel at the cathode and 2-furoic acid at the anode.

Automated summary

Furfural oxidation was used as a replacement for the sluggish O-2 evolution reaction (OER). Pt-Co3O4 nanospheres were prepared through pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) for the paired electrocatalysis of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and furfural oxidation reaction (FOR). The FOR achieved a high furfural conversion of 44.2% with a major product of 2-furoic acid. The Pt-Co3O4 electrode exhibited a small overpotential of 290 mV at 10 mA cm(-2). As an anode and cathode in an electrolyzer system, the Pt-Co3O4 electrocatalyst required only a small applied cell voltage of about 1.83 V to deliver 10 mA cm(-2), compared with the pure water electrolyzer which required about 1.99 V. This study simultaneously realized the integrated production of energy-saving H-2 fuel at the cathode and 2-furoic acid at the anode.