Nitrogen and oxygen co-doped graphite felt gas diffusion electrodes for efficient hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis

In order to improve the efficiency and reusability of gas diffusion electrodes for hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) electrosynthesis, we modified the graphite felt with nitric acid and constructed nitrogen-oxygen co-doped graphite felt/polytetrafluoroethylene/gas diffusion electrodes. The graphite felts before and after nitric acid modification were characterized by SEM, contact angle measurements, FTIR, and XPS, which showed that nitric acid modification resulted in a significant increase of oxygen- and nitrogen-containing functional groups (such as carboxyl groups and pyridinic nitrogen), which could improve the H 2 O 2 yield and current efficiency. The H 2 O 2 yield of the electrode prepared under the optimized modification conditions can reach 42.2 mg·L −1 ·cm −2 , and the current efficiency can be maintained at about 80.0%. The electrode shows relatively stable performance of H 2 O 2 electrogeneration during 13 cycles, and has a promising application prospect.