Electrocatalytic Conversion of Glucose into Renewable Formic Acid Using “Electron-Withdrawing” MoO3 Support under Mild Conditions

Abstract

Electrocatalysis is a sustainable and effective approach to produce value-added chemical commodities from biomass, where highly effective catalyst is required. Since transition metal hydroxide is a feasible catalyst for electrochemical biomass conversion, rational optimization of its electrocatalytic activity is highly desired. Herein, electrocatalytic activity of glucose oxidation is significantly optimized by reducing the electron density at Ni active sites, which is achieved by depositing Ni(OH)₂ at “electron-withdrawing” MoO₃ support (Ni(OH)₂MoO_3−x). As results, the formation of active sites (NiOOH) and the adsorption of glucose are simultaneously facilitated in Ni(OH)₂MoO_3−x, which effectively converts glucose to formic acid (FA) with remarkable yield and Faraday efficiency (≈90.5 and 98%, respectively), far superior to conventional β-Ni(OH)₂ catalyst (≈22.5 and 58.9%, respectively). In addition to a novel strategy for efficient FA production from glucose, this work offers valuable insights into the rational optimization of electrocatalytic oxidation of biomass-based substrates.