Enhanced proton-feeding kinetics of metal-organic framework toward industrial-level H2O2 electrosynthesis for sustainable bleaching

作者：F.T. Cheng, Yingnan Liu, Zilin Zhao, Xiaoxuan Yang, Wanzhen Zheng, Bin Yang, Zhongjian Li, Qinghua Zhang, Chung‐Li Dong, Lecheng Lei, Liming Dai, Yang Hou · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-025-65276-z · 被引用次数：11 · 研究领域：Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion、Metal-Organic Frameworks: Synthesis and Applications、Advanced oxidation water treatment

Eco-friendly electrocatalytic production of alkaline H2O2 via the two-electron oxygen reduction reaction offers a promising alternative to the conventional anthraquinone process, which is energy-intensive and poses explosion risks. However, the industrial adoption of this approach is hindered by sluggish proton-feeding kinetics of heterogeneous electrocatalysts, which restricts the achievable current densities. Herein, we develop Ni-based metal-organic frameworks with a bio-inspired B-coordination (B-NiBDC). The B-NiBDC shows Faradaic efficiency of ~90% for H2O2 electrosynthesis at 1000 mA cm−2, obtaining ~7.49 wt.% H2O2 alkaline solution for bleaching under urea oxidation-assisted energy-saving system. This has led to a significant increase in pulp brightness by 25-39 % (International Organization for Standardization, ISO). We propose that B-O-Ni motifs of B-NiBDC induce the formation of electron-deficient Ni active sites. Experiments and theoretical calculations elucidate that the electron-deficient Ni has accelerated water dissociation kinetics for proton-feeding to produce *OOH intermediate with suitable adsorption energy, boosting overall H2O2 electrosynthesis activity. Two-electron oxygen reduction reaction for hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis is hindered by slow proton-feeding kinetics. Here, authors report bio-inspired B coordinated Ni-based metal-organic frameworks to accelerate water dissociation, achieving industrial-level hydrogen peroxide production.