Electrifying Industrial Hydrogen Peroxide Production

Current hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production is dominantly made through thermocatalytic anthraquinone autoxidation (t-AO) method at industrial scale. Incumbent anthraquinone hydrogenation involves pressurized hydrogen input and requires palladium-based catalysts that can over-reduce anthraquinone to non-reactive molecules. A considerable amount of energy is associated with the distillation and transportation of H2O2, which could be avoided with decentralized electrochemical H2O2 production methods. We developed an interfacial hydrogen atom transfer reaction between an aqueous and a nonaqueous phase to realize an electrochemical AO process (e-AO), avoiding undesired over-reduction side-reactions. The ambient aqueous electrochemical process enables us to produce H2O2 with a Faradaic efficiency about 80% under high current densities (> 200 mA cm−2). The system can be free of hydrogen gas and noble metal. The H2O2 produced this way can be at high concentration (> 10%) and free of electrolyte. This method can facilitate the electrification and decentralization of H2O2 production and reduce the major waste associated with the decomposition of anthraquinone molecules. The electrochemically obtained non-aqueous peroxide can also be directly used in organic synthesis of other high-value chemicals. Figure 1