Freestanding 3D Ordered Hierarchical Porous Carbon Aerogel Cathodes for Efficient Electrocatalytic Dechlorination of 1,2-Dichloroethane to Ethylene

Electrochemical dechlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) to produce high-value ethylene is an efficient and economic strategy to reduce carbon emission. However, it is challenging to completely realize high-efficiency ethylene production due to the lack of high-performance catalysis. Herein, a directional freeze-casting and metal–organic framework-derived synergistic strategy was reported to construct a 3D ordered hierarchical porous carbon aerogel (OHPCA) with excellent mechanical properties. The as-prepared aerogel was used as a freestanding flexible electrode for electrocatalytic dechlorination of DCE. OHPCA possessed a higher Faradaic efficiency and ethylene selectivity than others due to the synergistic effects between directional ordered channels and hierarchical pore structures. Combining the stability experiments and characterizations, we found that the ordered hierarchical porous architecture possessed superior stability. This work offers a new approach to construct 3D OHPCA electrodes and provides a reference to design and synthesize highly effective carbon-based electrocatalysts.