By popular demand, we attempt to synthesise hydrogen peroxide by the electrolytic reduction of oxygen gas.
Starting with the 'gasdiffusion electrode' we made in another video, we try two different methods of generating peroxide, both with some pretty serious modifications to make them simpler to perform on a home scale.
The first method is pretty simple (based on a patent linked below), just electrolyse a conductive solution with oxygen gas passing through the cathode. Sadly, it's too good to be true, and we're unable to detect any peroxide after 20 hours of electrolysis.
The second method is much more complicated (based on a fancy paper, also linked below), where we have to perform the electrolysis in a threecompartment cell with our gasdiffusion cathode and specific electrolytes. Based on the electrodialysis of the generated peroxide species into the central compartment, we're meant to achieve a high concentration (510%) of acidified peroxide. Sadly, once again, we fail to measure any peroxide product at all.

Both methods probably failed due to the poor quality gasdiffusion electrode we made, which I believe was simply not good enough to reduce oxygen gas (likely requiring a catalyst and a much higher surface area).

It was fun to try anyway.


Link to the video where we make the gasdiffusion electrode:
   • Making A Gas Diffusion Electrode  

Link to the patent describing the first process:
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2...

DOI of the paper describing the second process:
'The Electrolytic Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide in a Dual Membrane Cell', doi: 10.1149/1.2119897



Music:
Superepic by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.freestockmusic.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...