(703h) Enhanced Fatty Alcohol Electrocatalytic Oxidation over Inorganic-Polymer Hybrid Interface

Electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation presents a promising method for producing carboxylic acids, utilizing electrons as an environmentally friendly oxidizing agent. Fatty acids are an important class of fine chemicals widely utilized in cosmetics, plasticizers, resins, and other fields. Achieving selective oxidation of fatty alcohols stands as a pivotal route for fatty acid synthesis. Although electrocatalytic oxidation has shown remarkable efficacy in short-chain alcohols like methanol and ethanol, it encounters obstacles when extended to the oxidation of fatty alcohols with longer carbon chains. The extremely low solubility of fatty alcohols in aqueous electrolytes leads to mass transfer limitations, severely impeding the efficiency of electrocatalytic oxidation.

This work investigated the modulation of electrode-electrolyte interface to enhance fatty alcohol electrocatalytic oxidation, utilizing n-octanol as a model substrate. We employed a one-step electrodeposition method to fabricate polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-decorated Ni(OH)₂ electrocatalyst. The inherent hydrophobicity of PTFE nanoparticles endowed this inorganic-polymer hybrid interface with higher affinity for n-octanol, facilitating its enrichment at the interface. Compared to pure Ni(OH)₂ electrocatalyst, PTFE-decorated Ni(OH)₂ catalyst exhibited significantly higher current density for n-octanol oxidation. The faradaic efficiency of n-octanoic acid product increased from 80% to 95% at 1.5 V vs. RHE, indicating that the hybrid interface not only promoted n-octanol mass transfer but also suppressed competing oxygen evolution reactions. This work sheds light on mass transfer enhancement through interface engineering strategies, with potential applicability to other electrocatalytic reactions involving water-insoluble substrates.