Evaluation of birnessite-based electrocatalysts for ethylene glycol oxidation to formate: towards biocatalysis and electrocatalysis-based waste plastic upgrading
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, Aalborg Øst, Denmark, 9220
- 2Department of Materials and Production, Aalborg University, Fibigerstræde 16, Øst, Denmark, 9220
- 3Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, Aarhus C, Denmark, 8000
- 4School of Resources and Materials
- 5Northeastern University at Qinhuangdao
Abstract
Ethylene glycol (EG) electrooxidation provides an alternative anodic reaction to the 20 oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and enables the conversion of EG-containing plastic hydrolysates into value-added products, potentially facilitating downstream product recovery and purification. Its activity and selectivity depend on the surface redox chemistry of the catalyst and competition with OER. Here, Co-, Fe-, Ni-, and NiFe- 2 modified birnessite-derived manganese oxides were prepared by microwave-assisted 25 hydrothermal synthesis and evaluated for EG oxidation in alkaline media. The synthesis conditions affected both the MnOx phase and the metal content of the recovered solids, leading to hetero-structured electrocatalysts. The Ni-modified birnessite, prepared under neutral conditions with relatively high Ni content and a poorly crystalline birnessite-type structure, showed optimized EG oxidation activity for formate 30 production. The applied potential further affected the formate selectivity. At 1.6 V vs RHE, formate Faradaic efficiency reached 93%, while increasing the potential to 1.9 V increased the overall anodic current but reduced Faradaic efficiency. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) identified formate as the major soluble product, while glycolate was detected as an intermediate. 35 This study demonstrated proof-of-concept electro-oxidation of enzyme-catalysisderived EG from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene furanoate (PEF) hydrolysates.
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BibTeX
@misc{munksgaard2026evaluation,
title = {{Evaluation of birnessite-based electrocatalysts for ethylene glycol oxidation to formate: towards biocatalysis and electrocatalysis-based waste plastic upgrading}},
author = {Nicklas Munksgaard and Andreas Karlsen and Emil Riis Wolfhagen and Peter Kjær Kristensen and Cristiano Varrone and Virender Kumar and Kim Daasbjerg and Kristine Aalestrup and Hongyu Sun and Xinxin Chen and Xinxin Xiao},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010361/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010361/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Evaluation of birnessite-based electrocatalysts for ethylene glycol oxidation to formate: towards biocatalysis and electrocatalysis-based waste plastic upgrading
AU - Nicklas Munksgaard
AU - Andreas Karlsen
AU - Emil Riis Wolfhagen
AU - Peter Kjær Kristensen
AU - Cristiano Varrone
AU - Virender Kumar
AU - Kim Daasbjerg
AU - Kristine Aalestrup
AU - Hongyu Sun
AU - Xinxin Chen
AU - Xinxin Xiao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010361/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010361/v1
AB - Ethylene glycol (EG) electrooxidation provides an alternative anodic reaction to the 20 oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and enables the conversion of EG-containing plastic hydrolysates into value-added products, potentially facilitating downstream product recovery and purification. Its activity and selectivity depend on the surface redox chemistry of the catalyst and competition with OER. Here, Co-, Fe-, Ni-, and NiFe- 2 modified birnessite-derived manganese oxides were prepared by microwave-assisted 25 hydrothermal synthesis and evaluated for EG oxidation in alkaline media. The synthesis conditions affected both the MnOx phase and the metal content of the recovered solids, leading to hetero-structured electrocatalysts. The Ni-modified birnessite, prepared under neutral conditions with relatively high Ni content and a poorly crystalline birnessite-type structure, showed optimized EG oxidation activity for formate 30 production. The applied potential further affected the formate selectivity. At 1.6 V vs RHE, formate Faradaic efficiency reached 93%, while increasing the potential to 1.9 V increased the overall anodic current but reduced Faradaic efficiency. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) identified formate as the major soluble product, while glycolate was detected as an intermediate. 35 This study demonstrated proof-of-concept electro-oxidation of enzyme-catalysisderived EG from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene furanoate (PEF) hydrolysates.
ER -