Electron Transfer‐Proton Supply Decoupling at Functionalized Polymer Interfaces Enables Efficient Air‐Fed H <sub>2</sub> O <sub>2</sub> Electrosynthesis
ABSTRACT Air‐fed electrochemical H 2 O 2 production via the two‐electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e − ORR) offers a sustainable alternative to conventional processes, yet its efficiency is fundamentally constrained by low O 2 availability and intrinsically coupled electron‐proton transfer. Here, we construct a bifunctional covalent organic polymer interface integrating carbonyl electron‐relay units and quaternary ammonium cationic motifs on commercial carbon black (QSPIP‐TMC@CB), enabling efficient H 2 O 2 electrosynthesis directly from air. The QSPIP‐TMC@CB delivers a H 2 O 2 production rate of 3410.1 mmol·h −1 ·g −1 with 91.4% H 2 O 2 Faradaic efficiency (FE H2O2 ) under air, and sustains stable operation at 100.0 mA·cm −2 for 35.0 h. Mechanistically, carbonyl motifs function as reversible redox mediators that facilitate electron injection into O 2 , while quaternary ammonium cations enrich interfacial O 2 and regulate proton accessibility via Donnan repulsion, suppressing excessive protonation of the *OOH intermediate and preventing O─O bond cleavage. This cooperative regulation decouples electron transfer from proton supply, thereby stabilizing the 2e − pathway under O 2 ‐lean conditions. The strategy is readily extendable to representative ORR catalysts (Co─N─C and ZnO) and enables gram‐scale H 2 O 2 production (4.8 g h −1 at 5.0 A, 1.0 wt% within 5 min), establishing functionalized‐interface electron‐proton decoupling as a general and scalable design paradigm for air‐fed H 2 O 2 electrosynthesis.
Authors
- J F Zhang
- Yue Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0098-5359)
- Zhu Y
- Y Liu
- Chengsi Pan
- Jing Xu
- Hongwen Huang
- Ying Zhang
- Yang Lou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8310-8150)
- Yuming Dong
Institutions
- Jiangnan University (CN)
- Shanghai Normal University (CN)
- Ministry of Education and Child Care (CA)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2026-05-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.3259811
- Primary Topic
- Covalent Organic Framework Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Basic Research Program of Jiangsu Province