Boosting nucleophilic attack to realize high current density biomass valorization on a tunable Prussian blue analogue

Abstract

Electrochemical biomass valorization provides a promising approach to generating value-added chemicals. Herein, we have creatively utilized a Prussian blue analogue as a structure template of the anodic catalyst and improved its catalyst capacity by adjusting its electronic structure. The nickel-based Prussian blue analogue/Ni foam (NiFe-PBA/NF) exhibits excellent performance for methanol (MeOH) oxidation and achieves almost 94.1% FE of formic acid at a high current density of 500 mA cm⁻². Apart from formic acid, NiFe-PBA/NF also has good catalytic ability for ethanol, glycerol, glucose, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). In short, this work has developed a promising class of catalysts for biomass valorization.