To Study Metallic Gold Catalyst-Enabled Hydrogen Peroxide Synthesis

Abstract

In this study, we look at the potential for directly monitoring gas-phase H2O2 production in a continuous gas flow reactor. To study how atmospheric and supersonic pressures affect the behavior of gas-phase H2O2 produced directly, we built two lab-scale flow reactors on-site.   The results showed that creating H2O2 directly in the gas phase was challenging, and that the stability of the H2O2 was much diminished due to the absence of a solvent.   Results show that organic molecules may be gas-phase oxidized using oxygen and gold-palladium nanoparticles; this much is proven. Synthesis rates high enough in the TAP reactor and the fixed bed gas phase reactor allowed for the identification of H2O2 as a product. This finding opens the door to the prospect of directly manufacturing H2O2 via a gas phase approach.