Nitrogen-doped Co_(3)O_(4) nanowires enable high-efficiency electrochemical oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

Developing highly efficient and cost-effective catalysts for electrochemically oxidizing biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural(HMF)into value-added 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid(FDCA)is of great importance.Herein,we report a controllable nitrogen doping strategy to significantly improve the catalytic activity of Co_(3)O_(4)nanowires for highly selective electro-oxidation of HMF into FDCA.The nitrogen doping leads to the generation of defects including nitrogen dopants and oxygen vacancies in Co_(3)O_(4)nanowires,which is conducive to the formation of catalytically active sites.As a result,the electro-oxidation potential for HMF is only 1.38 V(vs.RHE)when the current density reaches 50 mA/cm^(2).More importantly,the conversion rate of HMF is as high as 99.5%,and the yield of FDCA is up to 96.4%.