Highly Selective Oxygen Electroreduction to Hydrogen Peroxide on Sulfur‐Doped Mesoporous Carbon
As a paradigm-shifting material platform in energy catalysis, precisely engineered ordered mesoporous carbon spheres emerge as supreme metal-free electrocatalysts, outperforming conventional carbon-based counterparts through synergistic structural and electronic innovations. Herein, we architecturally design vertically aligned cylindrical mesoporous carbon spheres with atomic-level sulfur doping (S-mC) that establish unprecedented performance benchmarks in the two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e<sup>-</sup>-ORR) to hydrogen peroxide. Systematic comparative studies reveal that the S-mC catalysts achieve exceptional H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> selectivity (>99%) and activity at current density of -3.5 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, surpassing state-of-the-art metal-free catalysts in current density. Impressively, the optimized S-mC electrocatalyst in a flow cell device achieves an exceptional H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> yield of 25 mol g<sub>catalyst</sub> <sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>. The carbon matrix's unique sp<sup>2</sup>/sp<sup>3</sup> hybrid network coupled with S-induced charge redistribution generates electron-deficient hotspots that selectively stabilize *OOH intermediates, as evidenced by in situ spectroscopic characterization and DFT calculations. This structural-electronic synergy endows the carbon framework with metal-like catalytic efficiency while maintaining inherent advantages of chemical robustness and cost-effectiveness. The marriage of S-doping engineering with mesoscopic pore architecture control opens a new way for developing efficient carbon-based electrocatalysts for oxygen selective reduction to H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>.
Authors
- Juan Du
- Yicheng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8922-809X)
- Ming Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7432-9704)
- Jing Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0535-6195)
- Aibing Chen
- Buxing Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0440-809X)
Institutions
- Qingdao University (CN)
- Qingdao University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hebei University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Hebei Chemical and Pharmaceutical College (CN)
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (CN)
- Qingdao Municipal Hospital (CN)
- Institute of Chemistry (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-04-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202503385
- Citations
- 25
- Primary Topic
- Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.09
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Colleges and Universities in Hebei Province Science and Technology Research Project