Strategies for Sustainable Production of Hydrogen Peroxide via Oxygen Reduction Reaction: From Catalyst Design to Device Setup

An environmentally benign, sustainable, and cost-effective supply of H₂O₂ as a rapidly expanding consumption raw material is highly desired for chemical industries, medical treatment, and household disinfection. The electrocatalytic production route via electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) offers a sustainable avenue for the on-site production of H₂O₂ from O₂ and H₂O. The most crucial and innovative part of such technology lies in the availability of suitable electrocatalysts that promote two-electron (2e⁻) ORR. In recent years, tremendous progress has been achieved in designing efficient, robust, and cost-effective catalyst materials, including noble metals and their alloys, metal-free carbon-based materials, single-atom catalysts, and molecular catalysts. Meanwhile, innovative cell designs have significantly advanced electrochemical applications at the industrial level. This review summarizes fundamental basics and recent advances in H₂O₂ production via 2e⁻-ORR, including catalyst design, mechanistic explorations, theoretical computations, experimental evaluations, and electrochemical cell designs. Perspectives on addressing remaining challenges are also presented with an emphasis on the large-scale synthesis of H₂O₂ via the electrochemical route.