Mechanistic understanding of electrochemical hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) <i>via</i> scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM)

We utilize scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to study the electrocatalytic HMF reduction reaction in aqueous solutions. The surface interrogation mode of SECM is used to quantify the adsorbed intermediates and overall rate constants of elementary chemical reaction steps can be achieved by controlling the time-delay during the measurements. This work provides an <i>in-situ</i> approach to examine the kinetics and mechanisms of competing reactions, namely HMF reduction <i>versus</i> the hydrogen evolution reaction, over applied potentials.