Electrooxidation of Thymol or Carvacrol to Obtain Thymoquinone on Defective Pt/CeO <sub>2</sub> Catalyst
Abstract Thymoquinone (TQ), a compound with diverse pharmacological benefits, faces limited availability from natural sources. In this study, the design of a highly efficient electrocatalyst, Pt clusters loaded on CeO 2 with rich oxygen vacancies (Vo‐Pt/CeO 2 ), for the electrocatalytic oxidation of thymol (TY) or carvacrol to produce TQ is reported. The introduction of oxygen vacancies to the surface of Vo‐Pt/CeO 2 significantly reduces the adsorption energy of TQ, facilitating its desorption and preventing product accumulation and catalyst poisoning. As a result, Vo‐Pt/CeO 2 demonstrates exceptional electrocatalytic performance, achieving ≈100% selectivity and up to 98% yield of TQ under 1.2 V RHE . In situ, Raman spectroscopy indicates that the electrocatalytic oxidation mechanism of TY involves water attacking the TY intermediate to form thymohydroquinone, which is subsequently oxidized to TQ. Overall, this work provides novel insights into the catalyst design and presents a new strategy for sustainable TQ synthesis.
Authors
- Jingjing Lv (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0337-449X)
- Liguang Lin
- Liang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1966-0864)
- Yuqin Zou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3038-1521)
- Yuxuan Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6214-0277)
- Zhengjun Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7667-3012)
- Yimin Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9988-499X)
- Jianfeng Jia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0857-3271)
- Fang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6342-9598)
- Wei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1135-7721)
- Jun Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6194-3668)
- Shun Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5305-5134)
- Shuangyin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5848-1762)
- Shengkai Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6825-4398)
- Huile Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2899-0515)
Institutions
- Wenzhou University (CN)
- Hunan University (CN)
- Institute of New Materials (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Chemobiosensing and Chemometrics (CN)
- Shanxi Normal University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Published
- 2025-04-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202424617
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Nigella sativa pharmacological applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.38
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- National Key Research and Development Program of China