Scientists at Rice University have introduced plasma-treated carbon black as a simple and highly effective catalyst for the production of hydrogen peroxide. Researchers found the substance leads to accelerated oxidation of alkanes while adding sulfur dioxide limits its effect.
The new catalyst is only 2 atoms thick – its current predecessors would require several sheets stacked on top of each other.
Hydrogen peroxide is commonly used to catalyze the conversion of water into fuel, a process that involves breaking down water into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide – although its chemical stability is not as good as that of water. The strength of hydrogen peroxide is also limited by the maximum speed of this reaction, which depends on the number of oxygen molecules available for decomposition. A higher number of oxygen molecules would also result in a reduced rate of oxygen decomposition.
Because the faster and more intense decomposition of oxygen into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide would be extremely hazardous if it were to leak, hydrogen peroxide usually needs to be stored in a controlled atmosphere at very low temperatures. Hydrogen peroxide is commonly produced by treating oxygen with sodium hydroxide.
Rice scientists treated metal-free carbon black, the inexpensive powdered product of oil production, with oxygen plasma. The process introduces defects and oxygen-containing groups into the structure of the carbon particles, exposing more surface area for interactions.
The researchers characterized the coating by exposing an array of thin films to intense ultraviolet light. The gold on the film, though embedded in carbon, was colored silver in the sunlight. In contrast, a dark coating made from pure metal on top of the silver-covered film was orange.
When used as a catalyst, the defective particles are known as CB-Plasma reduce oxygen to hydrogen peroxide with 100% faradic efficiency, a measure of charge transfer in electrochemical reactions. The process shows promise for replacing the complex anthraquinone-based production method that requires expensive catalysts and generates toxic organic byproducts and large amounts of wastewater, the researchers say.
The study shows that it is possible to produce high-purity hydrogen peroxide and simultaneously recycle waste into new products in a highly efficient process, explains Peixue Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Feng’s lab.
Researchers have used chemicals from tobacco and vegetables to create hydrogen peroxide, but in nature, the oxygen in those plants and their roots is highly unstable. In the study, researchers showed that these compounds are far less reactive and potentially more useful than previous compounds they investigated.
Currently, manufacturers use co-catalysts to modify proteins that are naturally present in oxygen. But this process produces a product that has defects that reduce the hydrogen peroxide’s effectiveness.
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