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Oxygen functional groups on carbon materials could contribute to high performance for electrochemical dechlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane to ethylene. And the C atom neighbored to C=O at armchair edge is confirmed to be the main active site with the lowest energy barrier of 0.11 eV. [Display omitted] • A series of reduced graphene oxide with varying contents of oxygen functional groups have been successfully developed. • Oxygen functional groups were found to contribute to high performance for electrochemical DCEDR. • Correlation tests indicated that C=O was the main real active component for DCEDR to ethylene. • DFT calculations indicated that C atom neighbored to C=O at armchair edge was the active site for DCEDR. Carbon materials have been widely proved to be promising electrocatalysts for 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) dechlorination reaction (DCEDR), while the significance or precise role of oxygen functional groups (OFGs) on the electrochemical reactivity has yet to be clarified. Herein, based on a sequence of reduced graphene oxide (RGOs) with varying contents of OFGs, we have found that the OFGs shown great effect on the electrochemical performance of carbon-based catalysts for DCEDR. Correlation tests indicated that the electrochemical DCEDR performance shown positive correlation only with the content of C=O, suggesting that C=O was the main real active component for DCEDR to ethylene. Further theoretical calculation results revealed that the C atom neighbored to C=O at armchair edge shown the lowest energy barrier of 0.11 eV for DCEDR, which was consistent with the result of experiment. Therefore, C atom neighbored to C=O at armchair edge was the real active site for DCEDR to ethylene. This work provides a deep understanding of the real nature of OFGs in electrocatalysis, and offers an efficient approach for rational exploitation of advanced carbon materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical hydrogen peroxide production from two-electron oxygen reduction reaction, a cost-effective, sustainable and reliable method compared with the traditional anthraquinone process, is attracting growing attention. However, it is challenged by the selectivity of electrocatalysts. In this context, nitrogen and oxygen co-doped ordered mesoporous carbon materials have been successfully fabricated. Benefiting from the ordered pore structure, better dispersion behavior and valid doping effect, a high selectivity (~95.00%), good activity and stability toward H 2 O 2 production were achieved. Systematic characterizations like physical adsorption, zeta potential, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculation revealed that interactive effects between pyridinic N and functional groups of COOH/C O C largely facilitated the desorption of intermediates (*OOH, * represents an unoccupied active site) in turn enhance the selectivity of electrocatalysts toward H 2 O 2 production. Interestingly, H 2 O 2 produced in situ was applied to Electro-Fenton, the formaldehyde mineralization rate was high to about 88.06%. These findings offer a rational chemical design of electrocatalysts toward H 2 O 2 production and pollutant purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]