Upgrading waste tire to a carbon-based natural gas diffusion electrode for efficient H2O2 production

Carbonaceous material, especially carbon black, is crucial in H2O2 production due to its exceptional catalytic properties. However, the traditional carbon black production process faces the challenges of significant CO2 emissions and high costs. To overcome these challenges, porous carbon nanoparticles (TPCNs) are derived from cheap, sustainable waste tires by a facile pyrolysis process, which is then used to fabricate a natural gas diffusion electrode (GDE) for efficient H2O2 electrogeneration. The obtained TPCNs are amorphous carbon with high graphitization, hierarchically porous architecture, and have high oxygen functional group content of C--O, C-OC, and COOH that are favorable for the high H2O2 selectivity. Hence, the fabricated TGDE exhibits efficient H2O2 electrogeneration of 694 mmol L-1 H2O2 concentration with 62% current efficiency after 60 min electrolysis without aeration. Moreover, this H2O2 production process utilizing waste tire can decrease by 19.6% CO2 emissions compared with that using commercial carbon black. This work proposes a protocol for the high-value reuse of waste tires and provides a sustainable carbon-based catalyst production for efficient H2O2 electrogeneration.