Electrochemical Biomass Depolymerization—Can Complex Catalysts Trigger High Product Selectivity?

Replacing crude oil as the primary industrial source of carbon-based chemicals has become crucial for both environmental and resource sustainability reasons. In this scenario, wood arises as an excellent candidate, whilst depolymerization approaches have emerged as promising strategies to unlock the lignin potential as a resource in the production of high-value organic chemicals. So far, catalysts for the electrochemical biomass depolymerization have been regarded as somewhat static catalytic systems with a focus on bulk or thin-film electrodes, whereas nanoparticle catalysts for the electrochemical CO2RR or water splitting have been demonstrated in the recent to undergo significant shape and size evolutions under operation conditions [1]. Taking electrochemical lignin depolymerization as a showcase, recent studies have been focused on bulk electrodes of carbon, nickel and copper, but the heterogeneous nature of chemical linkages, e.g. C-O or C-C, makes it challenging for bulk electrodes to achieve high selectivity for specific bond cleavage [2,3]. This talk will investigate complex electrocatalysts, such as nanoscopic catalysts, metal borides, and single atom catalysts for electrochemical depolymerization of lignin. Catalyst stability will be also elucidated based on TEM and <i>in operando</i> methods using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) [4].<br/><br/><br/>[<b>1</b>] J.Zhu, A.Slabon, S.Das, P.Cool et al. <i>ACS Catalysis</i> <b>2024</b>, <i>14</i>, <i>14</i>, 10987<br/>[<b>2</b>] L.M.Lindenbeck, B.V.M.Rodrigues, A.Slabon et al., <i>ChemSusChem</i> <b>2024</b>, e202301617.<br/>[<b>3</b>] M.G.A.da Cruz, B.V. M.Rodrigues, A.Slabon et al. <i>ChemSusChem</i> <b>2022</b>, <i>15</i>, e202200718<br/>[<b>4</b>] L.M.Lindenbeck, B.V.M.Rodrigues, A.Slabon et al., <i>in preparation.</i>