Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-Bishydroxymethylfuran on the Bimetallic CuAg Nanocatalyst

The electrochemical transformation of biomass-based compounds has been regarded as an economical and eco-friendly route. In this aspect, converting 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-bishydroxymethylfuran (BHMF) via electrocatalytic hydrogenation technology is a promising topic. Although Cu-based catalysts demonstrate excellent performance in numerous electrocatalytic hydrogenation processes, their efficacy in BHMF production requires further improvement. Herein, we report a nanodendritic CuAg-based electrocatalyst on copper foam (CF) substrates (CuAg/CF). The CuAg-based electrode exhibits superior performance with 96.9% of HMF conversion, 97.6% of BHMF selectivity, and 96.8% of faradic efficiency (FE), surpassing the pure Cu and Ag electrode. In-situ experiments combined with calculating analysis using density functional theory (DFT) demonstrate that the improved reactivity for BHMF generation on the CuAg bimetallic catalyst is owing to the regulated electronic structure of CuAg through the synergistic effect between Cu and Ag, which results in the facilitated adsorption of HMF and reduced reaction energy barrier of the rate-determining step, respectively.