Electrocatalytic hydrogenation enables the efficient treatment of oxidized contaminants in water under mild conditions, but its application has been greatly hindered by the need for a supporting electrolyte and the large amounts of unsafe intermediate products. Here we report the development of a rhodium nanoparticle-modified palladium membrane electrochemical reactor (Rh NPs-PdMER) for the hydrogenation of oxidized contaminants in drinking water and industrial effluents. The Rh NPs-PdMER not only enabled the hydrogenation of 12 different oxidized contaminants to safe products with ≥99% conversion and ≥95% yield in water without a supporting electrolyte, but also required a very low operating voltage of only 1.4 V. The performance of the Rh NPs-PdMER can be attributed to the specific reactor configuration and the unique adsorbability of the hydrogenated intermediates of the oxidized contaminants to the Rh nanoparticles.

电催化氢化能够在温和条件下有效处理水中的氧化污染物，但由于需要支持电解质和大量不安全的中间产物，其应用受到很大阻碍。在这里，我们报告了用于饮用水和工业废水中氧化污染物氢化的铑纳米颗粒改性钯膜电化学反应器 (Rh NPs-PdMER) 的开发。Rh NPs-PdMER 不仅能够在没有支持电解质的情况下将 12 种不同的氧化污染物氢化为安全产品，转化率≥99%，产率≥95%，而且还需要非常低的工作电压，仅为 1.4 V。