In-situ chemical corrosive nickel foam as high-efficient electrocatalyst for 5-hydroxymethylfurfural oxidation

Abstract

Recently, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has been regarded as a valuable platform molecule for the synthesis of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), which is a key precursor for preparing the biopolymer polyethylene furanoate. In this work, we successfully in-situ constructed the nickel hydroxide nanosheet loaded nickel foam (NF) nanosheet catalyst using the chemical in-situ corrosion method of hydrochloric acid to study the electrochemical oxidation of HMF to prepare FDCA. Through comprehensive experimental research, it is found that the prepared NF-4 (HCl concentration 0.7 mol/L, soak time 1 h, soak temperature 70 ℃, drying time 2 h, drying temperature 80 ℃) catalyst has excellent HMF conversion rate (99.5%), FDCA selectivity (99%) and high Faraday efficiency (96%) with 60 min of electrolysis at 1.47 V vs. RHE in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte. In addition, various electrolysis potentials were applied to adjust the catalytic activity and selectivity. The efficient combination of corrosion technology and biomass conversion shed light on designing a series of stable and regulable electrocatalysts for the future energy conversion process.