This work examines the role of oxygen supply in the improvement
of the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) electrochemical
production efficiency and the generation of high H2O2 concentrations in electrochemical processes operated in a
discontinuous mode. To conduct this study, a highly efficient Printex
L6 carbon-based gas diffusion electrode (GDE) as a cathode was employed
for the electrogeneration of H2O2 in a flow-by
reactor and evaluated the effects of lowering the operation temperature
(to increase solubility) and increasing the air supply in the system
on H2O2 electrogeneration. The results obtained
in this study show that unlike what is expected in flow-through reactors,
the efficiency in the H2O2 production is not
affected by the solubility of oxygen when GDE is employed in the electrochemical
process (using the flow-by reactor); i.e., the efficiency of H2O2 production is not significantly dependent on
O2 solubility, temperature, and pressure. The application
of the proposed PL6C-based GDE led to the generation of accumulated
H2O2 of over 3 g L–1 at a
high current density. It should be noted, however, that the application
of the electrocatalyst at lower current densities resulted in higher
energy efficiency in terms of H2O2 production.
Precisely, a specific production of H2O2 as
high as 131 g kWh–1 was obtained at 25 mA cm–2; the energy efficiency (in terms of H2O2 production) values obtained in this study based on
the application of the proposed GDE in a flow-by reactor at low current
densities were found to be within the range of values recorded for
H2O2 production techniques that employ flow-through
reactors.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.