Atomic Co/Cu Dual‐Metal for Rapid Conversion of 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural under Ambient Pressure

Abstract Atomic scaling of cobalt‐based catalysts is the feasible and sustainable approach for selective oxidation of biomass‐derived 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to produce bio‐plastic monomer of 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) under mild conditions. Here, a high‐efficiency dual single‐atomic Co/Cu supported on nitrogen‐doped carbon (a‐Co/Cu‐NC) is constructed. Leveraging exceptional oxygen activation ability, the Co/Cu dual‐atomic‐sites can accelerate the HMF oxidation, suppressing by‐product formation mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) in low‐oxygen environments. This leads to enhanced FDCA selectivity with a yield of 98% and a production rate of 298.8 mmol FDCA g metal −1 h −1 under ambient conditions. Comprehensive experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that long‐range interactions between Co and Cu sites optimize reactant adsorption and lower energy barriers for •O 2 − and HMFCA formation.