Formaldehyde-Ozone Battery for the Detoxification of Hazardous Wastes and Electricity Generation

As two ubiquitous and recalcitrant pollutants, formaldehyde (HCHO) and ozone (O₃) pose severe threats to global ecological security and public health. Conventional removal strategies such as physical adsorption and catalytic degradation often suffer from low efficiency, secondary CO₂ emission, or high energy consumption. Herein, we report a novel formaldehyde-ozone battery by coupling anodic HCHO oxidation with cathodic O₃ reduction reactions, which simultaneously enables the efficient detoxification of hazardous wastes and electricity generation. With nitrogen-doped carbon and CuAg composites as the cathodic and anodic catalysts, the as-fabricated formaldehyde-ozone battery delivers a considerably high open-circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.80 V and a large peak power density of 44.3 mW cm^-2. Even in simulated waste streams, a large-scale formaldehyde-ozone battery (25 cm²) achieves conversions of 99.1% HCHO and 99.97% O₃. Therefore, this work provides a sustainable and efficient strategy for the removal of HCHO and O₃.