Boosting Hydrogen Peroxide Electrosynthesis via Modulating the Interfacial Hydrogen-Bond Environment

Designing highly efficient and stable electrode-electrolyte interface for hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) electrosynthesis remains challenging. Inhibiting the competitive side reaction, 4 e⁻ oxygen reduction to H₂O, is essential for highly selective H₂O₂ electrosynthesis. Instead of hindering excessive hydrogenation of H₂O₂ via catalyst modification, we discover that adding a hydrogen-bond acceptor, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), to the KOH electrolyte enables simultaneous improvement of the selectivity and activity of H₂O₂ electrosynthesis. Spectral characterization and molecular simulation confirm that the formation of hydrogen bonds between DMSO and water molecules at the electrode-electrolyte interface can reduce the activity of water dissociation into active H* species. The suitable H* supply environment hinders excessive hydrogenation of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), thus improving the selectivity of 2 e⁻ ORR and achieving over 90 % selectivity of H₂O₂. This work highlights the importance of regulating the interfacial hydrogen-bond environment by organic molecules as a means of boosting electrochemical performance in aqueous electrosynthesis and beyond.     

1-氨基萘印迹聚合物分子识别特性的光谱学研究

采用分子自组装印迹技术合成了一种对1-氨基萘有高度选择性的分子印迹聚合物新材料。应用紫外光谱、红外光谱、X射线光电子能谱和1H核磁共振波谱等研究了印迹聚合物的结合位点和识别机理。结果表明模板分子与功能单体通过氢键作用形成1:1型配合物,配合物的稳定常数K=5.537×104L/mol。1-氨基萘分子氨基上的氮原子是质子接受体,功能单体甲基丙烯酸分子羧基上的氢原子是氢键的质子给予体,是与1-氨基萘形成氢键作用的选择性识别位点。利用平衡吸附试验研究了印迹聚合物的结合特性,表明印迹聚合物对1-氨基萘分子具有特异的识别性能。     

Porous Covalent Organic Framework Based Hydrogen-Bond Nanotrap for the Precise Recognition and Separation of Gold

Utilizing weak interactions to effectively recover and separate precious metals in solution is of great importance but the practice remains a challenge. Herein, we report a novel strategy to achieve precise recognition and separation of gold by regulating the hydrogen-bond (H-bond) nanotrap within the pore of covalent organic frameworks (COFs). It is found that both COF-HNU25 and COF-HNU26 can efficiently capture Au^III with fast kinetics, high selectivity, and uptake capacity. In particular, the COF-HNU25 with the high density of H-bond nanotraps exhibits an excellent gold uptake capacity of 1725 mg g⁻¹, which is significantly higher than that (219 mg g⁻¹) of its isostructural COF (COF-42) without H-bond nanostrap in the pores. Importantly, the uptake capacity is strongly correlated to the number of H-bonds between phenolic OH in the COF and [AuCl₄]⁻ in water, and multiple H-bond interactions are the key driving force for the excellent gold recovery and reusability of the adsorbent.