Balancing Electrons to Break the Activity‐Selectivity Trade‐Off in H <sub>2</sub> O <sub>2</sub> Electrosynthesis

ABSTRACT Electrochemical H 2 O 2 synthesis through the two‐electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e − ORR) is constrained by a scaling relationship linking electron concentration to *OOH adsorption, resulting in an inferior activity‐selectivity trade‐off. Here, we break this undesirable trade‐off by implementing electronic concentration balancing in CuS through the concurrent introduction of cobalt dopants and cobalt vacancies. Cobalt doping converts CuS from p‐type to n‐type, boosting electron availability and accelerating 2e − ORR kinetics. Meanwhile, cobalt vacancies withdraw excess carriers, preventing electron over‐accumulation and tuning *OOH binding to promote H 2 O 2 desorption rather than O‐O bond cleavage. The optimized catalyst delivers an excellent H 2 O 2 yield rate of 8.14 mol g −1 h −1 with &gt;84% selectivity in a •OH quench‐prone 1.0 M KOH solution. When integrated into an electro‐Fenton system, it achieves nearly 100% degradation of rhodamine B and remains stable over more than seven cycles. This work integrates heterometal doping and vacancy engineering to balance electrochemical activity and selectivity for efficient H 2 O 2 electrosynthesis.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-03-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.74818
Primary Topic
Advanced oxidation water treatment
Type
article
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article

Balancing Electrons to Break the Activity‐Selectivity Trade‐Off in H 2 O 2 Electrosynthesis

Yi Xin, Hangning Liu, Yuhang Cheng, Yuhai Dou et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
Advanced oxidation water treatment
article

Balancing Electrons to Break the Activity‐Selectivity Trade‐Off in H 2 O 2 Electrosynthesis

Yi Xin, Hangning Liu, Yuhang Cheng, Yuhai Dou, Xuyun Guo, Hui Li, Changhui Sun, Jie Wang, Tianyi Ma, Luyao Wang, Peng Li, Valeria Nicolosi
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Electrochemical H 2 O 2 synthesis through the two‐electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e − ORR) is constrained by a scaling relationship linking electron concentration to *OOH adsorption, resulting in an inferior activity‐selectivity trade‐off. Here, we break this undesirable trade‐off by implementing electronic concentration balancing in CuS through the concurrent introduction of cobalt dopants and cobalt vacancies. Cobalt doping converts CuS from p‐type to n‐type, boosting electron availability and accelerating 2e − ORR kinetics. Meanwhile, cobalt vacancies withdraw excess carriers, preventing electron over‐accumulation and tuning *OOH binding to promote H 2 O 2 desorption rather than O‐O bond cleavage. The optimized catalyst delivers an excellent H 2 O 2 yield rate of 8.14 mol g −1 h −1 with &gt;84% selectivity in a •OH quench‐prone 1.0 M KOH solution. When integrated into an electro‐Fenton system, it achieves nearly 100% degradation of rhodamine B and remains stable over more than seven cycles. This work integrates heterometal doping and vacancy engineering to balance electrochemical activity and selectivity for efficient H 2 O 2 electrosynthesis.

Advanced Functional Materials
Griffith University (AU), Qingdao Agricultural University (CN), ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (AU), Nanomaterials Research (United States) (US), Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (IE), Politecnico di Milano (IT)
Openalex Percentile: Top 33%
Advanced oxidation water treatment
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Balancing Electrons to Break the Activity‐Selectivity Trade‐Off in H <sub>2</sub> O <sub>2</sub> Electrosynthesis — Yi Xin, Hangning Liu, et al. · Advanced Functional Materials (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS