Hydroxide‐Based Catalysts for Alcohol Electrooxidation: From Fundamentals Understanding to Catalyst Design Strategies

Electrooxidation of alcohol is an economically viable approach to upgrading biomass, and efficient catalysts are urgently required for this process. Layered hydroxide is a state-of-the-art electrocatalyst that drives the alcohol electrooxidation process with high activity and stability due to its stable layer-stacking structure, hydroxyl-abundant surface, highly dispersed metal sites, and rich tunability. Herein, this review comprehensively summarizes the basic principles in the electrooxidation of alcohol and the design strategies. Initially, the basic concepts and mechanisms of alcohol electrooxidation are highlighted, including direct/indirect oxidation mechanisms, the formation process of active site, the pathway of proton-electron pair transfer, and product distribution of different kinds of substrates. Subsequently, the design strategies of the electrocatalyst for alcohol electrooxidation are summarized based on the understanding of reaction mechanism, such as modulating the pathway of electrooxidation process, tuning the formation behavior of active species, and electrolyte/ion engineering. Finally, potential challenges and perspectives in further development are proposed to improve the high-quality development of alcohol oxidative upgrading pathway. This review aims to guide the design of novel hydroxide-based electrocatalysts for anodic alcohol oxidation and understanding of structure-performance relationship.