Combining Renewable Electricity and Renewable Carbon: Understanding Reaction Mechanisms of Biomass-Derived Furanic Compounds for Design of Catalytic Nanomaterials.

ConspectusDespite the growing deployment of renewable energy conversion technologies, a number of large industrial sectors remain challenging to decarbonize. Aviation, heavy transport, and the production of steel, cement, and chemicals are heavily dependent on carbon-containing fuels and feedstocks. A hopeful avenue toward carbon neutrality is the implementation of renewable carbon for the synthesis of critical fuels, chemicals, and materials.

Electrochemical Stability of Thiolate Self-Assembled Monolayers on Au, Pt, and Cu.

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of thiolates have increasingly been used for modification of metal surfaces in electrochemical applications including selective catalysis (e.g., CO reduction, nitrogen reduction) and chemical sensing.

Electrochemical oxidation of pharmaceuticals in synthetic fresh human urine: Using selective radical quenchers to reveal the dominant degradation pathways and the scavenging effects of individual urine constituents.

Electrochemical oxidation of fresh human urine is a promising method to prevent pharmaceuticals from being discharged into the environment. Here, we evaluate the importance of electro-generated oxidants and direct anodic oxidation for degradation of four pharmaceutical (cyclophosphamide (CP), carbamazepine (CBZ), sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and ibuprofen (IBP)) accounting for the scavenging effect of urine constituents using boron-doped diamond (BDD) and IrO electrodes. Allyl alcohol and tert-butanol were used as selective quenchers for adsorbed and dissolved radicals, respectively.

Selective oxidation of pharmaceuticals and suppression of perchlorate formation during electrolysis of fresh human urine.

Urine comprises only a small (~1%) volumetric fraction of municipal wastewater, but represents a dominant source of pharmaceuticals, many of which may pass through conventional wastewater treatment and pose risks to aquatic ecosystems. Point-source treatment of source-separated urine presents a unique opportunity to degrade pharmaceuticals before dilution with wastewater, and electrochemical advanced oxidation processes are one increasingly investigated option. However, they often lead to the formation of oxidation byproducts including chlorate, perchlorate at very high concentrations.