Enhancing Electrocatalytic Production of H2O2 by Modulating Coordination Environment of Cobalt Center

As an environmentally friendly oxidant, H2O2 is widely utilized in various fields; however, its production methods remain limited to the chemical anthraquinone process. Alternatively, electrocatalytic oxygen reduction possesses numerous notable advantages (e.g., cost‐effectiveness, small‐scale, and distributed nature). As electrocatalytic oxygen reduction has been widely investigated in the fields of fuel cells and metal‐air batteries, the mechanism of the 2e−‐ORR pathway for producing H2O2 is not sufficiently clear. Herein, we explore the effect of the cobalt (Co) coordination environment on the electrochemical production of H2O2. The detailed investigation on N‐, P‐, and S‐coordinated Co catalysts (Co1N1N3, Co1P1N3, and Co1S1N3) demonstrates that changing the coordination environment evidently affects the H2O2 selectivity, and the S‐coordinated Co exhibits the best catalytic performance. This finding would lead to the design and selection of catalysts at atomic level for producing H2O2 via electrocatalytic oxygen reduction.