Non-Metal Silicon Single-Atom Catalysts with Unsymmetrically Tetradentate O3N1 Moiety Enabling Ampere-Level H2O2 Electrosynthesis

  • Zhixing Mou
  • , Yuewen Mu
  • , Lijia Liu
  • , Daili Cao
  • , Shuai Chen
  • , Wenjun Yan
  • , Haiqing Zhou
  • , Ting Shan Chan
  • , Lo Yueh Chang
  • , Junjie Guo
  • , Xiujun Fan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The development of efficient and stable catalysts for scalable and sustainable hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) electrosynthesis via two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e-ORR) is of great significance to replace the high-pollution anthraquinone oxidation process. Herein, O/N dual-coordinated silicon (Si) single-atom catalysts (SACs) uniformly immobilized on N-doped graphene (SiO3-NC) are successfully synthesized using silicate as Si dopant via controllable solvothermal and nitridation processes. In the synthesize reaction, Si centers convert from Si–O3 planar triangle to unsymmetrical Si–O3N1 tetrahedron, which effectively modify the electronic distribution of the carbon matrix, providing high-density active sites for electrocatalytic H2O2 production. SiO3-NC catalysts achieve industrial-relevant current densities for H2O2 production with a record-high productivity of 63.69 mol h−1 gcat.−1, while maintaining exceptional Faradaic efficiencies and stability. In situ spectroscopic studies and theoretical calculations uncover that the unsymmetrically Si–O3N1 configuration acts as an active center, which affords near-optimal binding strength for OOH* adsorption and accelerates the kinetics of H2O2 formation, thus promoting 2e-ORR process.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2504777
JournalSmall
Volume21
Issue number36
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 Sep 2025

Keywords

  • coordination structure
  • electrosynthesis
  • hydrogen peroxide (HO)
  • non-metal single-atom catalysts (SACs)
  • silicon

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