Newswise — Hydrogen peroxide, a flexible chemical utilized in a variety of applications-from medical disinfectants to semiconductor manufacturing and water treatment-is a vital substance with world annual manufacturing exceeding tens of thousands and thousands of tons. However, its manufacturing nonetheless depends on large-scale, energy-intensive amenities, and its transportation and storage contain excessive prices and vital security administration challenges. Recently, eco-friendly applied sciences that use electrical energy to instantly produce hydrogen peroxide from water and oxygen have garnered consideration; nevertheless, the catalytic efficiency and related price, which critically govern response effectivity, stay key boundaries to sensible implementation.
A analysis crew led by Dr. Lee Young Jun of the RAMP Convergence Research Group on the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST; President Oh Sang-rok), in collaboration with analysis groups led by Professor Yun Hongseok of Hanyang University and Professor Kang Junhee of Pusan National University, centered on lignin-a wooden byproduct discarded within the timber industry-to overcome these limitations. The analysis crew designed and developed a carbon-based catalyst able to selectively producing hydrogen peroxide via electrochemical reactions utilizing lignin, and demonstrated hydrogen peroxide manufacturing with a selectivity exceeding 95% underneath experimental situations. This efficiency is akin to that of standard treasured metal-based catalysts, and is critical in that it concurrently achieves cost-effectiveness and excessive catalytic effectivity.
In explicit, this examine went past merely changing biomass into carbon supplies; it utilized a technique to exactly management the positive chemical construction of the catalyst floor. The analysis crew centered on the truth that the kinds and distribution of varied oxygen practical teams on the catalyst floor have a decisive affect on the selectivity and effectivity of the hydrogen peroxide technology response. To confirm this, they carried out experiments to regularly modulate the construction of the practical teams and selectively take away particular ones. As a end result, they confirmed that this strategy may suppress pointless response pathways and additional improve the hydrogen peroxide technology response.
Furthermore, by systematically analyzing the correlation between these floor chemical constructions and response efficiency, they established design standards for figuring out which structural parts induce extremely environment friendly reactions. This serves as an important basic precept that may be utilized within the design of catalysts for numerous electrochemical reactions sooner or later, and gives broad applicability throughout numerous sustainable chemical processes.
This achievement demonstrates the potential to transform waste biomass into high-value-added practical supplies whereas additionally paving the way in which for energy-efficient, decentralized chemical manufacturing applied sciences. In explicit, it’s anticipated to contribute to the institution of “on-site production” techniques that generate hydrogen peroxide instantly within the portions wanted at every location, thereby serving to to cut back prices and enhance security throughout numerous industrial sectors, together with water therapy, disinfection, and semiconductor manufacturing.
Lee Young Jun, a senior researcher at KIST, said, “This is significant because we have developed a technology that efficiently produces hydrogen peroxide-an eco-friendly disinfectant-using waste wood byproducts,” including, “We plan to further enhance the catalyst’s performance for application in various industrial settings.”
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KIST was established in 1966 as the primary government-funded analysis institute in Korea. KIST now strives to resolve nationwide and social challenges and safe progress engines via main and revolutionary analysis. For extra data, please go to KIST’s web site at https://kist.re.kr/eng/index.do
This analysis was carried out with assist from the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Bae Kyung-hoon) via the KIST Convergence Research Center Program (CRC23013-000), the Nano and Materials Technology Development Program (RS-2025-25442300), and the University-Based Research Center Support Program (2020R1A6A1A06046728). The findings of this examine have been printed within the newest situation of the worldwide journal *Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy* (IF 21.1, JCR area 0.6%).