Sustainable Coproduction of Two Disinfectants via Hydroxide-Balanced Modular Electrochemical Synthesis Using a Redox Reservoir.

Abstract

Challenges posed by the sacrificial auxiliary reactions and expensive ion-exchange membranes in conventional electrosynthesis necessitate developing new electrochemical processes to enable efficient and sustainable distributed electrochemical manufacturing. Modular electrochemical synthesis (ModES) using a redox reservoir (RR) offers a promising membrane-free approach to improve energy efficiency and reduce waste through the pairing of multiple independent oxidative and reductive half-reactions; however, undesired ion-imbalance and induced pH changes in the existing ModES process limit sustained production. Here we present Ni(OH)2 as a heterogeneous RR that can selectively store and transport the hydroxide ions involved in the target half-reactions by reversible conversion with NiOOH to enable an ion-balanced ModES of two common disinfectants, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO). This hydroxide-balanced ModES realizes stable operation without appreciable pH swing to accumulate practically useful concentrations of H2O2 and NaClO up to 251 and 481 ppm, respectively. These results illustrate additional design principles for electrosynthesis without sacrificial auxiliary reactions and the need for ion-selective RRs for modular electrochemical manufacturing.