NaBH₄-Assisted Preparation of NiMn Sulfides for Efficient Electrochemical Conversion of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-Furandicarboxylic Acid

Electrooxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is considered to be an effective alternative strategy to the slow oxygen-removal reaction (OER) of electrolysis of water, which is capable of generating high-value-added platform compounds. In this paper, the NaBH<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</inf> pretreatment and sulfidation treatment yielded a high electron density with several advantages, such as abundant active sites, high conductivity, and favourable oxidation of the catalyst. The conversion of NiMnSx to HMF was 98.98% in an electrolyte of 10 mM HMF and 1 M KOH at a voltage of 1.38 V. The yield of FDCA was 98.19%, and the Faraday efficiency of 98.19%.