Hierarchical Ru0/Ruδ+/Al2O3 electrocatalyst enabling phenolic contaminant-to-chemical conversion

Renyu Wang, Gong Zhang, Lizhe Liu, Qinghua Ji, Huachun Lan, Jiuhui Qu and Huijuan Liu ()
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Renyu Wang: Tsinghua University, Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Sustainability, School of Environment
Gong Zhang: Tsinghua University, Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Sustainability, School of Environment
Lizhe Liu: Nanjing University, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Nanotechnology and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures
Qinghua Ji: Tsinghua University, Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Sustainability, School of Environment
Huachun Lan: Tsinghua University, Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Sustainability, School of Environment
Jiuhui Qu: Tsinghua University, Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Sustainability, School of Environment
Huijuan Liu: Tsinghua University, Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Sustainability, School of Environment

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Valorizing phenol in wastewater to cyclohexanol via electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH) offers a promising strategy for advancing a circular economy that shifts from pollutant control to resource recovery, but remains challenged by the absence of efficient and selective catalysts in complex wastewater matrices. Herein, we report a hierarchical Ru0/Ruδ+/Al2O3 catalyst with coupling multi–level electronic state to improve the phenol ECH performance. The metal-semimetal-insulator hierarchical interface effectively induces the integration of H* evolution and phenol activation, and the unsaturated Ru–O coordination formed by precise anchoring of Ru on Al2O3 lowers the reaction energy barrier, achieving a 4.3-fold increase in the reaction rate over that on the pristine Ru catalyst. Consequently, the ECH process applied to actual phenol-containing wastewater demonstrates a stable cyclohexanol selectivity of approximately 80% for over 120 h, making it more economically feasible and environmentally beneficial than the conventional adsorption-Fenton oxidation treatment. Our work provides valuable guidance for wastewater treatment from environmental burden to sustainable recovery.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65330-w

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