Unraveling the hidden conditions in NiOOH for electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde with unity Faraday efficiency and selectivity
Abstract
spectroelectrochemical techniques are employed to reveal the mechanism of formaldehyde formation. Low potential facilitates the formation of NiOOH(3+) as the oxidation species; additionally, 90% methanol prohibits the activation of the second C-H bond, avoiding overoxidation to formic acid. H/D isotope exchange measurements indicate that methanol oxidation is sensitive to the C-H bond activation, which is the primary reason for unreported formaldehyde formation and overoxidation to formic acid in the literature. Therefore, this study reveals the previously overlook conditions for NiOOH to oxidise methanol to higher-value formaldehyde, thus enabling further application in formaldehyde production on a practical scale.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
Advanced battery technologies research
Electrochemical Analysis and Applications
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Chemical Science
- Publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 9960–9970
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN