Electroreduction
of O2 is a promising method for decentralized
H2O2 production. Due to their high selectivity,
low cost, and highly tunable properties, O- and N-doped carbon catalysts
are appealing for this process. However, the relative effects of O
and N dopants on the catalytic performances of carbon are not well
understood. In this work, we present highly active and selective 2e– O2 reduction catalysts based on doped carbon
nanohorns (CNH) synthesized by the gas-injected arc-in-water (GI-AIW)
method. The effects of O and N dopants incorporated during the synthesis
and the post-treatment are investigated. We discovered that the selectivity
of CNH may be more sensitive to changes in N dopant than to changes
in O dopant. Our doped CNH catalyst exhibits an early onset potential
of 0.85 V vs RHE, >80% selectivity, and excellent stability even
after
5,000 cycles and 12 h of flow electrolysis. Our gas diffusion device
can generate H2O2 at a practical concentration
of 56 mM per hour, corresponding to a production rate of 0.74 mol
h–1 gcat
–1. These results suggest that regulating
both O and N dopants is an effective design strategy for an efficient
carbon catalyst, which is essential in the electrosynthesis of H2O2 from O2.
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