Sustainable cathode design for electrochemical hydrogen peroxide generation using waste-derived carbon from invasive biomass

In this work, carbonaceous materials were synthesized from Phragmites australis, an invasive reed species, through hydrothermal carbonization and NaOH chemical activation, and evaluated as electrocatalysts for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production. The electrochemical generation of H2O2 via the two-el...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ramírez Vidal, Álvaro, López Rivilla, Lucía, Muñoz Morales, Martín, López Fernández, Ester, Llanos López, Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Repositorio:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/45760
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2025.104358
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235218642500344X
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/45760
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:2-e- oxygen reduction reaction (2e-ORR)
Hydrogen peroxide
Sustainable carbon materials
Waste biomass valorization
Descripción
Sumario:In this work, carbonaceous materials were synthesized from Phragmites australis, an invasive reed species, through hydrothermal carbonization and NaOH chemical activation, and evaluated as electrocatalysts for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production. The electrochemical generation of H2O2 via the two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e-ORR) is gaining increasing interest as a green and decentralized approach for advanced water treatment. The impact of catalyst and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) loadings on electrode performance was systematically evaluated, identifying an optimal 1:50 catalyst/PTFE ratio that achieved 438.2 mg L?¹ of H2O2 with a Faradaic efficiency of 70 %, a power consumption of 4.46 kWh kg-1, and production yield of 2.43 mg h-1cm-² after 120 min (-0.9 V vs Ag/AgCl). Morphological analyses confirmed that the optimal ratio achieved the desired hydrophobicity (contact angle greater than 120º) and uniform material distribution, which facilitated efficient mass transport at the three-phase boundary. These results improve upon those previously obtained for the same waste biomass activated with KOH and pyrolysis, both in terms of H2O2 accumulation and FE. Furthermore, they demonstrated the high transformation potential of this invasive plant biomass compared to other studies on biomass-derived carbon materials, offering a sustainable route for future environmental technologies.