Enhanced electroproduction of hydrogen peroxide with oxidized boron-doped carbon catalysts synthesized from gaseous CO2

As an eco-friendly alternative to the conventional anthraquinone process, electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) through the oxygen reduction reaction has been attracting attention. The goal of this work is to derive a carbon-based material from carbon dioxide (CO₂) to achieve high performance in electrochemical H₂O₂ production. Doping heterogeneous element such as oxygen on a carbon catalyst has been mainly explored to increase the selectivity and activity, but little research has been conducted on enhancing catalytic activity with oxidized boron insertion. This study proposes porous carbon materials synthesized from CO₂ as electrocatalysts. Polyethylene oxide (PEO) was thermally treated together to increase the boron-oxygen bonding sites. As a result, the synthesized carbon materials having oxidized boron functional groups of BC₂O and BCO₂ showed high activity (1.25 mA cm⁻²) and selectivity (∼90 %) over a wide voltage range in two-electron ORR (Oxygen Reduction Reaction) at alkaline media. Furthermore, in an H-cell where 0.4 V vs. RHE was applied, the average H₂O₂ production rate was maintained at 452.96 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ for four hours with a high faraday efficiency of 90 %.