High-Concentration Single Atomic Pt Sites on Hollow CuSx for Selective O2 Reduction to H2O2 in Acid Solution

Summary The electrochemical direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is significant but still challenging because of the lack of highly selective and active catalysts. Here, we report the synthesis of hollow nanospheres constructed by atomically dispersing platinum in amorphous CuSx support (h-Pt1-CuSx) with a high concentration of single atomic Pt sites (24.8 at%), and this catalyst can consistently reduce O2 into H2O2 with selectivity of 92%–96% over a wide potential range of 0.05–0.7 V versus RHE in HClO4 electrolyte. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy confirmed the atomically isolated form of Pt with a low valance of +0.75. An electrochemical device that can synthesize H2O2 directly from H2 and O2 is fabricated with H2O2 productivity as high as 546 ± 30 mol kgcat−1 h−1. The well-defined and high-concentration single atomic Pt sites result in ultrahigh productivity of H2O2.