Fig. 4: Proposed mechanism of DHMFM2- oxidation reactions according to the experimental and calculated Raman spectra and isotope tracking DEMS Experiment.

In situ Raman spectra 200–600 cm−1 (a) and 800–2000 cm−1 (b) of HMF oxidation reactions on gold at 0.03–0.43 V (Exp.) and it is fitted by DFT calculated Raman spectra of DHMFM−-Au13 (blue), DHMFM2−-Au13 (red), HMFCA-Au13 (green) and H-Au13 (purple). c DEMS signal of HMF oxidation reaction. d Mechanism of the DHMFM2− oxidation pathway on Au–Ni electrode. The color for each element is white for H, gray for C, red for O, yellow for Au.