Two-electron oxygen reduction toward hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) offers a promising alternative for H2O2 production, but its commercial utilization is still hindered by the difficulty of transferring lab-observed catalyst performance to the practical reactor. Here we report the investigation of the porosity engineering effect on catalytic performance inconsistency through a material platform consisting of a series of hollow mesoporous carbon sphere (HMCS) samples. The performance comparison of HMCS samples in rotating ring-disk electrode and Zn-air battery together with the simulation of diffusion behavior reveals that, in low current density conditions, large surface area is preferred, but the mass transport governs the performance in high current density regions. On account of the favorable porous structure, HMCS-8 nm delivers the most excellent practical performance (166 mW cm-2) and performs well in the bifunctional Zn-air battery for the wastewater purification (70% RhB degraded after 2 min and 99% after 32 min).
Keywords: H2O2 production; Mass transport enhancement; Mesoporous carbon materials; Oxygen reduction reaction; Zinc-air battery.