Elucidating Cu Reactive Site Structure in Selective Biomass Electrooxidation Catalysts using in-situ XAS

The ability to electrooxidize biomass compounds efficiently and selectively can serve as source of both renewable hydrocarbons and H2 under electrolysis conditions. Although a host of common anode electrocatalysts have been implemented in biomass oxidation reactions, our group has recently discovered that Cu-based materials, notoriously bad catalyst for water electrooxidation, exhibit enhanced reactivity and selectivity toward biomass. With this beamtime proposal, we aim to resolve the Cu active site structure in layered double hydroxide (LDH) catalysts using in-situ XAS, providing insights into the design of future catalyst with improved biomass electrolysis properties.