Electrochemically-Driven and Green Conversion of SO2 to NaHSO4 in Aqueous Solution

The world has widely resorted to fossil fuels to power the industry and everyday life. In China, above 70% of the energy is extracted from coal. Emission of SO2 due to burning of fossil fuels, in particularly of coal, causes harmful impacts on the environment, human health, livestock, and plants (1,2). Many measures have been taken to cut off the emission of SO2 during the last generations. It can be seen that the reduction of SO2 emission in developed countries such as the United States has been witnessed (3). However, due to the aspiration of energy to drive the economic increase and sustain the expanded population, the SO2 emission is estimated to augment sharply in the rapidly developing Asian areas, and will still pose as a worldwide environmental problem in the next 30 years (4).