Incorporating Ordered Indium Sites into Rhodium for Ultra‐Low Potential Electrocatalytic Conversion of Ethylene Glycol to Glycolic Acid

Abstract The upcycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)‐derived ethylene glycol (EG) to glycolic acid (GA, a biodegradable polymer monomer) via electrocatalysis not only produces valuable chemicals but also mitigates plastic pollution. However, the current reports for electrooxidation of EG‐to‐GA usually operate at reaction potentials of >1.0 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), much higher than the theoretical potential (0.065 V vs RHE), resulting in substantial energy wastage. Herein, body‐centered cubic RhIn intermetallic compounds (IMCs) anchored on carbon support (denoted as RhIn/C) are synthesized, which shows excellent performance for the EG‐to‐GA with an onset potential of only 0.35 V vs…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 92061119, 52471220, 22108008
• NS
  Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality

  Award: 2254087
• BN
  Beijing Nova Program

  Award: 20220484172
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2021YFF0704705
• FR
  Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

  Award: buctrc202011