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Stable and high-yield hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis from seawater

Nature Sustainability volume 8, pages 542–552 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electrocatalytic two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e− ORR) in seawater offers a sustainable route for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production. However, due to the high concentration of Cl− ions and competitive 4e− ORR, there is a lack of efficient and long-term stable seawater electrocatalysts. Here we report a high-performance electrocatalyst design based on NiPS3 nanosheets enabling efficient H2O2 production from seawater. Specifically, the NiPS3 nanosheets deliver a 2e− ORR selectivity of ∼98%, a H2O2 yield of 6.0 mol gcat−1 h−1 and robust stability for over 1,000 h in simulated seawater. Underlying the exciting performance is the synergy of the S2−, Ni2+ and P4+ sites where the octahedral S2− skeleton repels Cl− ions, the Ni2+ sites enable the modest binding strength of *OOH intermediate, and the P4+ sites interact with H2O to trigger the protonation of proximal O atom of *OOH. The seawater electrocatalysis system also allows for scalable synthesis of solid H2O2, tandem oxidation reaction of biomass to organic acid and direct use of the produced H2O2 as a sterilizing agent. Once integrated with photovoltaics, the solar-powered electrolysis device can operate in real seawater. Our findings pave the way for sustainable conversion of seawater into value-added products.

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Fig. 1: Structural characterization of NiPS3.
Fig. 2: Electrocatalytic performance in simulated seawater.
Fig. 3: Mechanistic understanding.
Fig. 4: Practical applications of electrocatalytic 2e− ORR in real seawater.

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All data are available within the paper and Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China NSFC 22075085 (C.Y.), 22475072 (C.Y.) and 22305084 (C.Z.) and East China Normal University Multifunctional Platform for Innovation (004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Chaoqi Zhang, Yingying Zou, Tong Bao, Xinchan Zhang, Zhijie Li, Yunying Wang, Chao Liu & Chengzhong Yu

  2. Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Pengyue Shan

  3. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Guangfeng Wei

  4. Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Chengzhong Yu

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  1. Chaoqi Zhang
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Contributions

C.Y., C.L. and C.Z. conceived the idea, supervised the work and revised the paper. C.Z. performed most of the experiment. P.S. and G.W. carried out the DFT calculation. Y.Z. and T.B. took part in the material characterizations and electrochemical measurements. X.Z., Z.L. and Y.W. provided suggestions on experimental results. All authors contributed to the discussion and revision of the paper.

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Correspondence to Chao Liu or Chengzhong Yu.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Mingyang Deng, Juncai Dong, Young Jin Sa and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Zhang, C., Shan, P., Zou, Y. et al. Stable and high-yield hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis from seawater. Nat Sustain 8, 542–552 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01538-4

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