Competitive Adsorption Stabilizes Metallic Copper for Anodic H2 Evolution from α-H Aliphatic Aldehydes

Competitive Adsorption Stabilizes Metallic Copper for Anodic H2 Evolution from α-H Aliphatic Aldehydes | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Competitive Adsorption Stabilizes Metallic Copper for Anodic H 2 Evolution from α-H Aliphatic Aldehydes Obaida Zeno, Saroj Kumari, Amirhossein Farzi, Sathishkumar Nadaraj, and 11 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9044481/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Coupling the cathodic hydrogen evolution with aldehyde oxidation at the anode lowers cell voltages and enables dual hydrogen production compared to conventional water electrolysis. Here, we expand the low-potential anodic oxidative dehydrogenation to aliphatic, α-hydrogen-containing aldehydes using acetaldehyde as a model molecule to demonstrate the concurrent formation of acetate and hydrogen, while identifying the mechanistic origins of the anodically formed hydrogen. In situ and ex situ characterization and density functional theory computations reveal that activity is controlled by an apparent competition between the acetaldehyde and hydroxide molecules over the catalytic sites. Specifically, hydroxide is crucial to enable aldehydic oxidation but also promotes the oxidation and deactivation of the employed copper-based catalyst, whereas acetaldehyde stabilizes the active sites and sustains turnover. Techno-economic analysis highlights economic viability and scalability potential. This work contributes to clean energy technologies by expanding the scope of oxidizable aldehydes for efficient hydrogen production and value-adding organic upgrade. Physical sciences/Chemistry/Electrochemistry/Electrocatalysis Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for energy and catalysis/Electrocatalysis Acetaldehyde Oxidation Anodic Hydrogen Low Oxidation Potential Reaction Mechanism Spectroscopy DFT Computations Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SIAcetaldehydetoHydrogen.docx Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9044481","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":604073284,"identity":"b7712c65-abfc-455b-bda8-e44d0511dc27","order_by":0,"name":"Obaida Zeno","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"McGill University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Obaida","middleName":"","lastName":"Zeno","suffix":""},{"id":604073286,"identity":"127170f9-37eb-4db6-b90e-c858891b5c09","order_by":1,"name":"Saroj Kumari","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"McGill 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