Design and synthesis of carbon-based electrode materials for electrocatalytic reduction of biomass-derived organics Filippo Pota, Christian Schröder, Maida A. Costa de Oliveira, Hugo Nolan, Paula E. Colavita School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland Valorisation of biomass to fuel/chemicals is envisioned as one of the routes to the reduction of carbon emissions. [1] Electrocatalytic reduction of biomass-derived feedstocks represents a good alternative to the classic reductive valorisation processes carried out via thermal hydrogenation reactions. Electrocatalytic hydrogenation can bypass the problem of activating H 2 , thanks to in situ generation of H ads from protons/water. Furthermore, it eliminates the need for using H 2 at high purity and pressure, thus lowering operational costs. However, electrochemical processes require the design of electrocatalyst materials capable of achieving high efficiency, high selectivity and, in the case of biomass processing, also displaying high tolerance to complex feeds and impurities. [2] Here, we report on the design and synthesis of carbon-based electrode materials based on heteroatom-doped carbons for the reduction of unsaturated organic substrates of biomass origin. A hydrothermal method was developed for the synthesis of porous materials containing nitrogen functionalities and non-precious metal encapsulated nanoparticles (M@C). A nanocarbon scaffold was included in the synthesis to ensure high conductivity while a soft polymeric template was used to develop porosity. A combination of structural and spectroscopic methods was used to characterise the M@C composite materials, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. Model molecules were used to investigate the efficiency and selectivity of organic hydrogenations achieved with these materials, through voltammetry and potential step experiments. Finally, we discuss the potential of these carbon- based nanocomposite materials as electrocatalysts for transformations of unsaturated organics. References 1. Du, L.; Shao, Y.; Sun, J.; Yin, G.; Du, C.; Wang, Y., Electrocatalytic valorisation of biomass derived chemicals. Catal Sci Technol 2018 , 8 (13), 3216-3232. 2. Weber, R. S., Effective Use of Renewable Electricity for Making Renewable Fuels and Chemicals. ACS Catal. 2019, 9 (2), 946-950.
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