Manipulating hydrogenation pathways enables economically viable electrocatalytic aldehyde-to-alcohol valorization.

ABSTRACT: Electrocatalytic reduction (ECR) of furfural represents a sustainable route for biomass valorization. Unfortunately, traditional Cu-catalyzed ECR suffers from diversified product distribution and industrial-incompatible production rates, mainly caused by the intricate mechanism-performance relationship. Here, we manipulate hydrogenation pathways on Cu by introducing ceria as an auxiliary component, which enables the mechanism switching from proton-coupled electron transfer to electrochemical hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT) and thus high-speed furfural-to-furfuryl alcohol electroconversion. Theoretical and kinetic analyses show that oxygen-vacancy-rich ceria delivers an efficient formation-diffusion-hydrogenation chain of H* by diminishing H* adsorption. Spectroscopic characterizations indicat

SUBMITTER: Yao ZC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11874036 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature