Finely dispersed Au nanoparticles on graphitic carbon nitride as highly active photocatalyst for hydrogen peroxide production

Abstract In this work, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) supporting finely dispersed Au nanoparticles is developed as a simple and efficient photocatalyst for H2O2 production under visible light irradiation. Au nanoparticle cocatalyst remarkably enhances photocatalytic activity of C3N4 for H2O2 production. Due to the inert nature to catalyze the decomposition of H2O2, Au/C3N4 also exhibits stable H2O2 evolution rate. It is of great interest that the maximal H2O2 production activity is reached at the loading amount of Au as low as 0.01%, revealing the great catalytic efficacy of highly dispersed Au cocatalyst during the photocatalytic H2O2 synthesis and the possibility to produce concentrated H2O2 using C3N4 with extremely low Au loading amount. The in situ electron spin resonance studies reveal that the H2O2 is produced through direct 2e− oxygen reduction over Au/C3N4 photocatalyst.

[1]  J. Fierro,et al.  Hydrogen peroxide synthesis: an outlook beyond the anthraquinone process. , 2006, Angewandte Chemie.

[2]  X. Doménech,et al.  H2O2 Formation from photocatalytic processes at the ZnO/water interface , 2001, Environmental science and pollution research international.

[3]  Jinlong Zhang,et al.  Visible‐light‐driven photocatalytic H2O2 production on g‐C3N4 loaded with CoP as a noble metal free cocatalyst , 2017 .

[4]  Ib Chorkendorff,et al.  Enabling direct H2O2 production through rational electrocatalyst design. , 2013, Nature materials.

[5]  Xinchen Wang,et al.  Eco-Friendly Photochemical Production of H2O2 through O2 Reduction over Carbon Nitride Frameworks Incorporated with Multiple Heteroelements , 2017 .

[6]  Wonyong Choi,et al.  Solar production of H2O2 on reduced graphene oxide–TiO2 hybrid photocatalysts consisting of earth-abundant elements only , 2014 .

[7]  Itai Panas,et al.  Single atom hot-spots at Au-Pd nanoalloys for electrocatalytic H2O2 production. , 2011, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[8]  P. Balbuena,et al.  Adsorption and dissociation of H2O2 on Pt and Pt-alloy clusters and surfaces. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[9]  Mietek Jaroniec,et al.  Polymeric Photocatalysts Based on Graphitic Carbon Nitride , 2015, Advanced materials.

[10]  S. Matsui,et al.  Comparison among the methods for hydrogen peroxide measurements to evaluate advanced oxidation processes : Application of a spectrophotometric method using copper (II) ion and 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline , 1998 .

[11]  Yasuhiro Shiraishi,et al.  Highly Selective Production of Hydrogen Peroxide on Graphitic Carbon Nitride (g-C3N4) Photocatalyst Activated by Visible Light , 2014 .

[12]  Valter Maurino,et al.  Sustained production of H2O2 on irradiated TiO2- fluoride systems. , 2005, Chemical communications.

[13]  Lu Zhang,et al.  Solar-Driven H2 O2 Generation From H2 O and O2 Using Earth-Abundant Mixed-Metal Oxide@Carbon Nitride Photocatalysts. , 2016, ChemSusChem.

[14]  D. Bahnemann,et al.  Photocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxides and organic peroxides in aqueous suspensions of titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and desert sand. , 1988, Environmental science & technology.

[15]  Akira Fujishima,et al.  Effect of copper ions on the formation of hydrogen peroxide from photocatalytic titanium dioxide particles , 2003 .

[16]  Shaozheng Hu,et al.  The effect of Ni(I)–N active sites on the photocatalytic H2O2 production ability over nickel doped graphitic carbon nitride nanofibers , 2017 .

[17]  Shunsuke Tanaka,et al.  Sunlight-driven hydrogen peroxide production from water and molecular oxygen by metal-free photocatalysts. , 2014, Angewandte Chemie.

[18]  Yongfan Zhang,et al.  Tri-s-triazine-Based Crystalline Graphitic Carbon Nitrides for Highly Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Photocatalysis , 2016 .

[19]  Liping Yang,et al.  Two-channel photocatalytic production of H2O2 over g-C3N4 nanosheets modified with perylene imides , 2017 .

[20]  Shunsuke Tanaka,et al.  Mellitic Triimide-Doped Carbon Nitride as Sunlight-Driven Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Peroxide Production , 2017 .

[21]  M. Antonietti,et al.  Photocatalytic Activities of Graphitic Carbon Nitride Powder for Water Reduction and Oxidation under Visible Light , 2009 .

[22]  Shunsuke Tanaka,et al.  Graphitic Carbon Nitride Doped with Biphenyl Diimide: Efficient Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Peroxide Production from Water and Molecular Oxygen by Sunlight , 2016 .

[23]  Jinhua Ye,et al.  Nanometals for Solar‐to‐Chemical Energy Conversion: From Semiconductor‐Based Photocatalysis to Plasmon‐Mediated Photocatalysis and Photo‐Thermocatalysis , 2016, Advanced materials.

[24]  Kazuhiko Maeda,et al.  Nature-Inspired, Highly Durable CO2 Reduction System Consisting of a Binuclear Ruthenium(II) Complex and an Organic Semiconductor Using Visible Light. , 2016, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[25]  M. Matsumura,et al.  Quantitative analysis of superoxide ion and hydrogen peroxide produced from molecular oxygen on photoirradiated TiO2 particles , 2004 .

[26]  Yasuhiro Shiraishi,et al.  Au Nanoparticles Supported on BiVO4: Effective Inorganic Photocatalysts for H2O2 Production from Water and O2 under Visible Light , 2016 .

[27]  Xinchen Wang,et al.  Helical graphitic carbon nitrides with photocatalytic and optical activities. , 2014, Angewandte Chemie.

[28]  Jinhua Ye,et al.  In Situ Bond Modulation of Graphitic Carbon Nitride to Construct p–n Homojunctions for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production , 2016 .

[29]  Shunsuke Tanaka,et al.  Photocatalytic H2O2 Production from Ethanol/O2 System Using TiO2 Loaded with Au–Ag Bimetallic Alloy Nanoparticles , 2012 .

[30]  Can Yang,et al.  Nanospherical Carbon Nitride Frameworks with Sharp Edges Accelerating Charge Collection and Separation at a Soft Photocatalytic Interface , 2014, Advanced materials.

[31]  S. Dong,et al.  Facile fabrication of highly efficient g-C3N4/Ag2O heterostructured photocatalysts with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity. , 2013, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[32]  Hiroaki Tada,et al.  In situ liquid phase synthesis of hydrogen peroxide from molecular oxygen using gold nanoparticle-loaded titanium(IV) dioxide photocatalyst. , 2010, Journal of the American Chemical Society.