Atomic Co/Cu Dual-Metal for Rapid Conversion of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural under Ambient Pressure

Atomic scaling of cobalt-based catalysts is the feasible and sustainable approach for selective oxidation of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to produce bio-plastic monomer of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) under mild conditions. Here, a high-efficiency dual single-atomic Co/Cu supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (a-Co/Cu-NC) is constructed. Leveraging exceptional oxygen activation ability, the Co/Cu dual-atomic-sites can accelerate the HMF oxidation, suppressing by-product formation mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) in low-oxygen environments. This leads to enhanced FDCA selectivity with a yield of 98% and a production rate of 298.8 mmol FDCA g metal −1 h −1 under ambient conditions. Comprehensive experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that long-range interactions between Co and Cu sites optimize reactant adsorption and lower energy barriers for •O 2 − and HMFCA formation.