# High Oxidation State V‐O‐Co Structure Promotes the Role of V‐*O Intermediates in Efficient HMF Oxidation

## TL;DR

A new V-O-Co structure efficiently converts HMF into FDCA, showing high performance and potential for various organic compounds.

## Contribution

The novel design of a high oxidation state V-O-Co structure promotes the formation of active V-*O intermediates for efficient HMF oxidation.

## Key findings

- The V-O-Co structure achieves 99.6% HMF conversion and 97.8% FDCA selectivity.
- The catalyst shows a low onset potential of 1.13 V vs. RHE for HMF oxidation.
- The design strategy is validated in V-doped Ni2P/NF, forming active V-*O intermediates.

## Abstract

Designing heterometallic oxygen‐bridge structure (M1‐O‐M2) to achieve the efficient and stable electrochemical conversion of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) has become an important approach to address the rapid consumption of fossil fuels and mitigate white pollution. However, designing effective M1‐O‐M2 structures and elucidating their catalytic mechanisms remains a key challenge in this field. In this study, a high oxidation state V‐O‐Co structure is constructed by doping V into reconstructed CoOOH, which promotes the formation of the active intermediate V‐*O. The catalyst achieves a low HMF oxidation onset potential of 1.13 V vs. RHE, the HMF conversion rate reaches 99.6%, the FDCA selectivity reaches 97.8%, and the Faradaic efficiency reaches 97.0% at an applied potential of 1.30 V vs. RHE. Based on this novel design strategy, V‐doped Ni2P/NF is further constructed, which also forms the active intermediate V‐*O, validating the effectiveness of this strategy. Notably, the oxidation state‐controlled V‐O‐Co structure demonstrates excellent catalytic performance in promoting the efficient conversion of various organic compounds (such as glycerol, glucose, methanol, etc.) into high‐value chemicals, providing a precedent for the development of single hetero‐oxygen‐bridge structures for the effective conversion of various high‐value compounds.

By designing a high oxidation state VH‐O‐CoH structure, the V‐*O intermediate can be effectively generated, thereby facilitating the catalytic oxidation of HMF. This innovative design strategy demonstrates broad applicability, as it not only enables the formation of the active intermediate in various materials (V‐Ni2P), but also facilitates its catalytic conversion of multiple organic substrates, including glycerol, glucose, and methanol.