Selective Substitution of Cobalt Dopant Sites by Edge Defects on Copper Sulfide Catalyst for Efficient Hydrogen Peroxide Electrosynthesis and Organic Pollutant Degradation

This study leverages theoretical insights from CuS surface microenvironments, demonstrating that cobalt doping and edge defects on CuS can thermodynamically favor the 2-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) pathway for H2O2 production.

To validate theoretical predictions, we synthesized a catalyst featuring interleaved hexagonal lamellar copper sulfide with discontinuous cobalt dopants at the edges and complementary defects (Co-CuSED). This design optimizes the microelectronic structure at the electrocatalytic interface, enhancing the 2-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) pathway over the 4-electron pathway. The optimized Co-CuSED achieves a high H2O2 production rate of 1.04 mol g−1 h−1.