The role of oxygen-vacancy in bifunctional indium oxyhydroxide catalysts for electrochemical coupling of biomass valorization with CO conversion

Electrochemical coupling of biomass valorization with carbon dioxide (CO) conversion provides a promising approach to generate value-added chemicals on both sides of the electrolyzer. Herein, oxygen-vacancy-rich indium oxyhydroxide (InOOH-O) is developed as a bifunctional catalyst for CO reduction to formate and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural electrooxidation to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid with faradaic efficiencies for both over 90.0% at optimized potentials. Atomic-scale electron microscopy images and density functional theory calculations reveal that the introduction of oxygen vacancy sites causes lattice distortion and charge redistribution. Operando Raman spectra indicate oxygen vacancies could protect the InOOH-O from being further reduced during CO conversion and increase the adsorption competitiveness for 5-hydroxymethylfurfural over hydroxide ions in alkaline electrolytes, making InOOH-O a main-group p-block metal oxide electrocatalyst with bifunctional activities. Based on the catalytic performance of InOOH-O, a pH-asymmetric integrated cell is fabricated by combining the CO reduction and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural oxidation together in a single electrochemical cell to produce 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid and formate with high yields (both around 90.0%), providing a promising approach to generate valuable commodity chemicals simultaneously on both electrodes.