Biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) electrooxidation to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) offers great potential for sustainable chemical production, yet voltage-efficient selective direct oxidation remains challenging. Herein, a Pt/TiO2 catalyst characterized by dense Pt-O-Ti interfaces is presented, demonstrating an impressive FDCA selectivity of 97.3% at a low potential of 0.8 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode) during the alkaline oxidation of HMF, outperforming Pt/C, which shows only 62.7% selectivity. Additionally, the Pt/TiO2 catalyst exhibits high CO resistance and remains stable for more than 200 h during HMF oxidation. Experimental data and density functional theory calculations indicate that the enhanced performance originates from strong Pt-O-Ti interfacial electron coupling, which accelerates the rate-determining step of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furanocarboxylic acid oxidation by promoting hydroxyl (OH*) formation and reducing C-H bond activation energy. These results provide crucial insights into the mechanisms of the interface effect relevant to direct biomass electrooxidation at low voltages.
Zhou et al. (2026) studied this question.