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Vol. 18 (2026)

Saturated Alcohols Electrocatalytic Oxidations on Ni-Co Bimetal Oxide Featuring Balanced B- and L-Acidic Active Sites

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01893-z
Junqing Ma
State Key Laboratory of High‑Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, People’s Republic of China
Wenshu Luo
State Key Laboratory of High‑Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, People’s Republic of China
Xunlu Wang
School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, People’s Republic of China
Xu Yu
State Key Laboratory of High‑Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, People’s Republic of China
Jiacheng Jayden Wang
State Key Laboratory of High‑Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, People’s Republic of China
Huashuai Hu
School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, People’s Republic of China
Hanxiao Du
State Key Laboratory of High‑Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, People’s Republic of China
Jianrong Zeng
Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, People’s Republic of China
Wei Chen
Department of Materials Design and Innovation, University at Buffalo The State University of New York, Buffalo , NY 14260, USA
Minghui Yang
School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, People’s Republic of China
Jiacheng Wang
Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Island Green Energy and New Materials, Institute of Electrochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China
Xiangzhi Cui
State Key Laboratory of High‑Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Xiangzhi Cui

cuixz@mail.sic.ac.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 18 (2026), Article Number: 39

Abstract

Investigating structural and hydroxyl group effects in electrooxidation of alcohols to value-added products by solid-acid electrocatalysts is essential for upgrading biomass alcohols. Herein, we report efficient electrocatalytic oxidations of saturated alcohols (C1-C6) to selectively form formate using NiCo hydroxide (NiCo–OH) derived NiCo2O4 solid-acid electrocatalysts with balanced Lewis acid (LASs) and Brønsted acid sites (BASs). Thermal treatment transforms BASs-rich (89.6%) NiCo–OH into NiCo2O4 with nearly equal distribution of LASs (53.1%) and BASs (46.9%) which synergistically promote adsorption and activation of OH− and alcohol molecules for enhanced oxidation activity. In contrast, BASs-enriched NiCo–OH facilitates formation of higher valence metal sites, beneficial for water oxidation. The combined experimental studies and theoretical calculation imply the oxidation ability of C1-C6 alcohols increases as increased number of hydroxyl groups and decreased HOMO–LUMO gaps: methanol (C1) < ethylene glycol (C2) < glycerol (C3) < meso-erythritol (C4) < xylitol (C5) < sorbitol (C6), while the formate selectivity shows the opposite trend from 100 to 80%. This study unveils synergistic roles of LASs and BASs, as well as hydroxyl group effect in electro-upgrading of alcohols using solid-acid electrocatalysts.


Highlights:
1 NiCo–OH has a relatively high Brønsted acid sites (BASs) content (89.6%), which can promote the adsorption of OH− and inhibit the co-adsorption of OH− and alcohols, resulting in poor alcohol oxidation reaction (AOR) activity but higher oxygen evolution reaction activity.
2 NiCo–OH-derived NiCo2O4 solid-acid electrocatalysts with balanced BASs (46.9%) and Lewis acid sites (53.1%) facilitates co-adsorption of alcohols molecules and OH−, thereby favoring the AOR.
3 In the AOR on NiCo2O4, as the number of hydroxyl groups in C1-C6 saturated alcohols increases, the activity shows an increasing trend: C1<C2<C3<C4<C5<C6.

Keywords

Solid-acid electrocatalyst Alcohol oxidation reaction Brønsted acid sites Lewis acid sites C1-C6 saturated alcohols
Ma, Junqing, Wenshu Luo, Xunlu Wang, Xu Yu, Jiacheng Jayden Wang, Huashuai Hu, Hanxiao Du, Jianrong Zeng, Wei Chen, Minghui Yang, Jiacheng Wang, and Xiangzhi Cui. 2025. “Saturated Alcohols Electrocatalytic Oxidations on Ni-Co Bimetal Oxide Featuring Balanced B- and L-Acidic Active Sites”. Nano-Micro Letters 18 (August):39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01893-z.
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