Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) electrosynthesis via the oxygen reduction reaction offers a sustainable alternative to the industrial anthraquinone process. However, the poor energy efficiency (EE) of current catalysts and systems hinders their industrial application. Here a techno-economic analysis indicates that this electrochemical process becomes economically viable if the EE exceeds 39% at a current density of 300 mA cm−2. Guided by theoretical calculations, we report a class of single-site catalysts with oxygen functional group-coordinated p-block main-group metals. We find that oxygen functional groups induce electron-deficient Sn sites via electronic interactions, optimizing the adsorption strength of key H2O2 intermediates. Using the Sn1/C(O) as the cathodic catalyst in an electrolyser, an industrial current density of 300 mA cm−2 is realized with an ultralow cell voltage of 1.17 V, achieving an EE of 43% and stability exceeding 200 h. This work contributes towards the industrial implementation and economic viability of large-scale electrochemical H2O2 synthesis.
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Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (grant no. 52025133), the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2022YFE0128500), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (grant no. Z220020), Beijing Outstanding Young Scientist Program (JWZQ20240102004 (S.G.)), Tencent Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE, National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 22309006 to Y.G., 22205010 to Y.H., 52202201 to S.Z. and 22309005 to H.T.) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant no. 2023M730045 to Y.G.). We thank the photoemission BL14W1 and BL11B in the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) and BL1W1B in the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF) for the help with characterizations. We thank Q. Fu from the University of Science and Technology of China and R. Jun from North University of China for their assistance with the theoretical calculations.
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S.G. conceived and supervised the project. M.L. guided and supervised all of the research. Y.G. designed the experiments. Y.G. and Y.T. performed the experiments and data analysis. H.T., Y.H. and F.L. contributed to senior aberration-corrected TEM characterization. Y.G. and D.C. contributed to the DFT calculations. L.Z. and S.Z. helped with X-ray absorption fine structure experiments. Z.Q. and R.Z. participated in part of the basic experiments. H.G. and Y.L. assisted with the electrochemical tests. Y.G. wrote the paper. All authors took part in the discussion of data and gave comments on the paper.
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Nature Synthesis thanks Samira Siahrostami, Shuangliang Zhao and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Alexandra Groves, in collaboration with the Nature Synthesis team.
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Supplementary Methods, Figs. 1–38 and Tables 1–13.
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Gu, Y., Tan, Y., Tan, H. et al. Industrial electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide over p-block metal single sites. Nat. Synth 4, 614–621 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-024-00722-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-024-00722-2
