In recent years there has been growing interest in using electrochemical methods for hydrogenation of organic materials. Conventional hydrogenation technologies require elevated temperatures and externally supplied high pressure (2000psi) hydrogen. Many of the same reactions can be performed using an electrochemical reactor at close to room temperature and with no externally supplied hydrogen. The electrocatalytic reduction of the carbonyl group on different organic molecules containing different functionalities was explored using a combined computational and experimental approach. Pd, Rh, Ru, Co, Ni and Cu catalysts were used in this work. The experiments were conducted using a continuous flow fixed bed reactor at room temperature and atmospheric pressure in the aqueous phase. Our results suggest that Pd and Cu showed the highest reaction rates and Faradaic efficiency for all the molecules tested. Ru and Rh were more selective towards the hydrogen evolution reaction. The functionality of the molecule impacts the reaction rates with aromatic aldehydes, such as benzaldehyde and furfural, being the most active molecules closely followed by aromatic ketones, such as acetophenone. Aliphatic aldehydes were less active than aromatic aldehydes. Our preliminary results show that whereas Pd is the best ECH catalysts for benzaldehyde, Ru, Co and Cu perform better for the other molecules tested.<br/>

Exploring the effect of molecule functionality and metal on the electrocatalytic upgrading of biomass-derived oxygenated molecules

2019 Spring National Meeting

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