Developing Intermetallic Compound Nanomaterials for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Organic Compounds to Value‐Added Chemicals

ABSTRACT Electrocatalytic oxidation of organic compounds provides a green strategy to produce value‐added chemicals from easily accessible molecules with low values at ambient conditions. The low overpotentials of these reactions also make them excellent alternatives to replace the conventional anodic oxygen evolution reaction in water splitting to reduce the electrical energy consumption of the electrolyser and simultaneously realize the co‐production of fine chemicals and hydrogen. However, the electrocatalytic oxidation of organic compounds suffers from slow kinetics and complex reaction pathways, which lead to poor catalytic activity and selectivity, hindering its practical applications in green production of value‐added chemicals. Recently, intermetallic compound (IMC) nanomaterials have shown great promise as catalysts for electrocatalytic oxidation of organic compounds. Their atomically ordered structures enable the precise control over the configurations of active sites, making it feasible to finely modulate the adsorption of reactants and intermediates on catalyst surface for achieving high electrocatalytic performance. This review provides a brief overview of the development of IMC nanomaterials as catalysts for electrocatalytic oxidation of organic compounds to produce value‐added chemicals. The main strategies for preparing IMC nanomaterials are summarized, followed by an overview of their applications in electrocatalytic oxidation of furan compounds, glycerol, and plastic waste. Besides, the hybrid water splitting systems coupling electrocatalytic oxidation reactions with hydrogen evolution reaction utilizing IMC nanomaterials as catalysts are also highlighted. Finally, the existing challenges and future research opportunities in this research area are discussed.