Direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide in water at ambient temperature

The direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) from hydrogen and oxygen has been studied using an Au-Pd/TiO₂ catalyst. The aim of this study is to understand the balance of synthesis and sequential degradation reactions using an aqueous, stabilizer-free solvent at ambient temperature. The effects of the reaction conditions on the productivity of H₂O₂ formation and the undesirable hydrogenation and decomposition reactions are investigated. Reaction temperature, solvent composition and reaction time have been studied and indicate that when using water as the solvent the H₂O₂ decomposition reaction is the predominant degradation pathway, which provides new challenges for catalyst design, which has previously focused on minimizing the subsequent hydrogenation reaction. This is of importance for the application of this catalytic approach for water purification.