Conductive Metal-Organic Frameworks Bearing M-O₄ Active Sites as Highly Active Biomass Valorization Electrocatalysts

The electrochemical oxidation of the biomass platform 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), is an important reaction in the emerging area of renewable energy-powered biomass valorization. A key limitation in this field is the ill-defined nature of the catalytic sites of the highest-performing materials that limits the fundamental insights that can be extracted. To this end, a conductive metal-organic framework-based electrocatalytic model system with well-defined M-O₄ active sites for electrochemical HMF oxidation was developed. These materials were found to be highly active towards FDCA generation, with product yields of over 95 %. In parallel, infrared spectroscopy was employed to capture a surface-bound aldehyde group as the key intermediate in the catalytic cycle, which forms once M(II/III) oxidation occurs. This work illustrates the advantage of utilizing molecularly defined active sites coupled with operando spectroscopy to provide fundamental insights into a variety of electrosynthetic reactions and thus paves the way for future catalyst design.