Tandem Oxidation Activation of Carbon for Enhanced Electrochemical Synthesis of H2O2: Unveiling the Role of Quinone Groups and Their Operando Derivatives

with good durability in gas diffusion electrode. Comprehensive characterizations and calculations revealed that the presence of abundant C═O groups at the edge sites positively correlated to and accounted for the excellent 2e-ORR performance. Notably, the edge hydroquinone group formed from quinone under operando conditions, which is overlooked in previous research, is identified as the most active catalytic site.