With the increasing need to achieve carbon neutrality, electrocatalytic hydrogenation (ECH) of biomass-derived oxygenates, such as furfural, has received growing interest. Biomass ECH is an eco-friendly conversion of an abundant resource to valuable chemical products like fuels that replace fossil resources. In this study, we focus on high surface-area zinc nanoparticles as a catalyst for furfural ECH. The rotating disk electrode (RDE) is employed to enable quick electrochemical studies with small surface area, and kinetic parameters were obtained via Koutecky-Levich analysis. To modify a glassy carbon RDE with zinc nanoparticles, Nafion℗ʼ, polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were studied as binders.In the absence of furfural, chronoamperometry of PVA-bound zinc electrodes showed continuous steady current associated with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In contrast, Nafion℗ʼ and PVP bound electrodes were found to be unstable. In the presence of furfural, high electrocatalytic activity was achieved with Zn-PVA compared to glassy carbon. The Zn-PVA electrode was optimized by varying the binder content and total zinc loading. A weak optimum was identified at 92 wt% zinc and 8.6 mgZn/cm2 loading. For zinc electrodes, high FE was obtained at higher overpotential (-0.9V vs. RHE), whereas higher FE was obtained at lower overpotentials for copper. Through Koutecky-Levich analysis, kinetic current densities and moderate Tafel slopes were observed, suggesting that the high surface-area zinc electrode is a promising platform for ECH. Product analysis studies using GC-MS are suggested to verify FE and to further elucidate the mechanism of furfural ECH at zinc electrodes.
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