Publication date: 27th March 2025
Electrochemical conversion of biomass into added value products is gaining interest in the scientific and industrial community as it offers a real alternative path to avoid the use of fossil fuels as the base of the chemical industry. Thus, either through reduction or oxidation of biomass derivatives it is possible to obtain chemical building blocks of interest for the industry.[1, 2]. To optimise these reactions, it is needed to understand the mechanisms that control the electrochemical process. Impedance spectroscopy is a technique that has been extensively used for the characterization and modeling of the physico-chemial properties of materials and electrodes. In this work we will focus on the analysis of capacitance to unveil the mechanisms of oxidation and reduction of hydroxymethyl furfural and the reduction of nitrobenzene.[3-5] Our results highlight the importance of the coverage of the electrode by the substrate and also shows the activation of the surface absorption and charge transfer, which are key to maximize the performance of these reactions. Finnally we will combine the oxidation and reduction reactions, including hydrogen production, to show their sustainability in industrial processes.