Cyclodextrin-supported Co(OH) Clusters as Electrocatalysts for Efficient and Selective H O Synthesis.

Co-based material catalysts have shown attractive application prospects in the 2 e oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, for the industrial synthesis of H O , there is still lack of Co-based catalysts with high production yield rate. Here, novel cyclodextrin-supported Co(OH) cluster catalysts were prepared via a mild and facile method. The catalyst exhibited remarkable H O selectivity (94.2 % ~ 98.2 %), good stability (99 % activity retention after 35 h), and ultra-high H O production yield rate (5.58 mol g h in the H-type electrolytic cell), demonstrating its promising industrial application potential. Density functional theory (DFT) reveals that the cyclodextrin-mediated Co(OH) electronic structure optimizes the adsorption of OOH* intermediates and significantly enhances the activation energy barrier for dissociation, leading to the high reactivity and selectivity for the 2 e ORR. This work offers a valuable and practical strategy to design Co-based electrocatalysts for H O production.