{"id":160291,"date":"2025-03-20T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=160291"},"modified":"2025-03-19T11:07:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T10:07:24","slug":"using-batteries-to-produce-hydrogen-peroxide-from-air-for-industrial-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/using-batteries-to-produce-hydrogen-peroxide-from-air-for-industrial-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"Using batteries to produce hydrogen peroxide from air for industrial applications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"Schematic
Schematic of operation of Zn-Air battery and dye degradation \u00a9 Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Hydrogen peroxide (H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub>) is widely used as a bleach, disinfectant, and oxidising agent, among other things. However, industrial production of H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> is expensive and uses a lot of energy owing to the rare and precious metal catalysts used in its production. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed an alternative, onsite production strategy for H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> that can also degrade industrial pollutants like toxic dyes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The scientists have utilised a zinc-air battery in which oxygen reduction generates H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub>. \u201cZinc is an abundant and historically-used element \u2026 it is very cheap and abundant in India,\u201d says Aninda J Bhattacharyya, Professor in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research (ICER)<\/strong> and Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit (SSCU)<\/strong>, and corresponding author of the study published in Small Methods.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A metal-air battery has a metal like zinc as the anode (negative electrode) and ambient air as the cathode (positive electrode). When the battery discharges \u2013 releases energy \u2013 oxygen from ambient air gets reduced at the cathode, producing H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The electrochemical reduction of oxygen proceeds through two ways, one of which forms H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe strategy here is to control the extent of the oxygen reduction reaction. If you don\u2019t control it at some level, it will just go and form water,\u201d explains Bhattacharyya<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This control can be achieved using specific catalysts. \u201cWe are using a metal-free catalyst based on carbon,\u201d says Asutosh Behera, first author and PhD student at SSCU<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

These inexpensive catalysts usually drive the reaction along the route that forms water where the selectivity towards H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> is less. However, incorporating certain chemical modifications in these catalysts, like adding oxygen functional groups, directs the reaction selectivity towards the production of H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bhattacharyya<\/strong> explains that using a battery to directly produce H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> is a novel approach. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to do other things. You have a battery, and you run it. We have curtailed the voltage such that it is only producing H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Another advantage of using batteries is that they produce or store electrical energy in addition to chemical reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat we are doing is that along with producing H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub>, we are storing energy because it takes place inside the cell,\u201d Bhattacharyya<\/strong> adds.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> generated must be detected since it is colourless. This can be done by introducing a dye, a toxic pollutant produced by the textile industry. When H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> is created, it reacts with the dye, degrading it and changing its colour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> generated will further decompose into various radicals (such as hydroxide and superoxide) \u2013 highly raw, reactive organic species \u2013 that will eventually degrade the textile dye,\u201d Behera<\/strong> explains. This degradation helps increase the efficiency of H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> production and eliminate the toxic dye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are some fundamental challenges which must be overcome,\u201d Bhattacharyya<\/strong> notes. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For example, a metal-air battery has three phases \u2013 solid (zinc), liquid (electrolyte), and gas (air). This makes handling them more challenging than most batteries with only two phases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite these challenges, the researchers believe that the strategy is scalable and may have other applications, like generating electricity in remote locations. \u201cThis method is very sustainable, low-cost, and highly energy-efficient,\u201d says Bhattacharyya<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Reference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Behera A, Bhattacharyya AJ, Employing a Zn-air\/Photo-Electrochemical Cell for In Situ Generation of H2<\/sub>O2<\/sub> for Onsite Control of Pollutants, Small Methods<\/em> (2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/smtd.202401539<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is widely used as a bleach, disinfectant, and oxidising agent, among other things. However, industrial production of H2O2 is expensive and uses a lot of energy owing to the rare and precious metal catalysts used in its production. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed an alternative, onsite production strategy for H2O2 that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":160293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"A metal-air battery has a metal like zinc as the anode (negative electrode) and ambient air as the cathode (positive electrode)","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[16780,5838,12535,10416,10408],"supplier":[1303],"class_list":["post-160291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-battery","tag-bioeconomy","tag-catalysts","tag-circulareconomy","tag-greenchemistry","supplier-indian-institute-of-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160291"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=160291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}