NiFeB Hydroxide with Modulated Active Sites for Electrocatalytic Benzylamine Oxidation

Graphical The NiFeB hydroxide (NiFeB(OH)) with nanosheet structure is fabricated via the hydrothermal reaction. Benefitted from the incorporation of electron-deficient boron (B), the formation of high-valence nickel active centers is promoted, facilitating the electrocatalytic oxidation of benzylamine. The oxidation product is benzonitrile with no by-products generated, with the Faraday efficiency being 94.15%. Considering the slow kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the need for high potential, organic electro oxidation, which is more prone to occur at low potential, is adopted to replace OER process. The research method combined with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has gradually become the mainstream direction for the synergistic production of hydrogen and high value-added organic products. In this work, the NiFeB hydroxide (NiFeB(OH)) nanosheet was prepared. Benefited from the incorporation of electron-deficient boron (B), the NiFeB(OH) catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity for the electrooxidation of benzylamine (BA), with benzonitrile (BN) being successfully fabricated. The experiment further proves that the conversion from BA to BN not only has high selectivity (100%) and Faraday efficiency (94.15%), but also excellent stability, which can achieve long-term operation. The excellent catalyst studied in this work provides new ideas and methods for the efficient production of benzonitrile, an organic intermediate.