Cation-Vacancy-Enriched Nickel Phosphide for Efficient Electrosynthesis of Hydrogen Peroxides

Abstract

Electrocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) synthesis via the two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e ORR) pathway is becoming increasingly important due to the green production process. Here, cationic vacancies on nickel phosphide, as a proof-of-concept to regulate the catalyst's physicochemical properties, are introduced for efficient H₂O₂ electrosynthesis. The as-fabricated Ni cationic vacancies (VNi)-enriched Ni₂–ₓP-VNi electrocatalyst exhibits remarkable 2e ORR performance with H₂O₂ molar fraction of >95% and Faradaic efficiencies of >90% in all pH conditions under a wide range of applied potentials. Impressively, the as-created VNi possesses superb long-term durability for over 50 h, suppassing all the recently reported catalysts for H₂O₂ electrosynthesis. Operando X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) and synchrotron Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) combining theoretical calculations reveal that the excellent catalytic performance originates from the VNi -induced geometric and electronic structural optimization, thus promoting oxygen adsorption to the 2e ORR favored "end-on" configuration. It is believed that the demonstrated cation vacancy engineering is an effective strategy toward creating active heterogeneous catalysts with atomic precision.