Selective Electrocatalytic H₂O₂ Generation by Cobalt@N‐Doped Graphitic Carbon Core–Shell Nanohybrids

Abstract

Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction (ORR) is an emerging synthetic strategy to prepare H₂ O₂ in a sustainable fashion. N-doped graphitic carbon with embedded cobalt nanoparticles was selected as an advanced material able to selectively trigger the ORR to form H₂ O₂ with a faradaic efficiency of almost 100 % at very positive applied potentials. The production of H₂ O₂ proceeded with high rates as calculated by bulk electrolysis (49 mmol g^-1 h^-1 ) and excellent current densities (≈-0.8 mA cm^-2 at 0.5 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode). The totally selective behavior depended on the combination of concomitant material features, such as the textural properties, the nature of the metal, the distribution of N moieties, the acidic environment, and the applied potential.