A β-cyclodextrin Modified Graphitic Carbon Nitride with Au Co-Catalyst for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Production

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2020-10, Vol.10 (10), p.1969
• Main Authors: Zuo, Guifu, Zhang, Yuqian, Liu, Shanshan, Guo, Zhaoliang, Zhao, Qiannan, Saianand, Gopalan, Feng, Liwei, Li, Lijuan, Li, Wangze, Zhang, Ning, Meng, Xianguang, Roy, Vellaisamy A L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Aqueous solutions; Carbon; Carbon cycle; Carbon nitride; Catalysts; Chemical reduction; Chemical research; Contact angle; Cyclodextrins; Decomposition; Electron paramagnetic resonance; Electron spin; Electron spin resonance; graphitic carbon nitride; Hydrogen peroxide; Hydrophobicity; Irradiation; Light irradiation; Nanoparticles; Oxygen; oxygen reduction reaction; Oxygen reduction reactions; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Radiation; Reagents; Research centers; Spin resonance; β-Cyclodextrin
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano10101969

Photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H O ) production has attracted considerable attention as a renewable and environment-friendly method to replace other traditional production techniques. The performance of H O production remains limited by the inertness of graphitic carbon nitride (CN) towards the adsorption and activation of O . In this work, a photocatalyst comprising of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD)-modified CN with supporting Au co-catalyst (Au/β-CD-CN) has been utilized for effective H O production under visible light irradiation. The static contact angle measurement suggested that β-CD modification increased the hydrophobicity of the CN photocatalyst as well as its affinity to oxygen gas, leading to an increase in H O production. The rate of H O production reached more than 0.1 mM/h under visible-light irradiation. The electron spin resonance spectra indicated that H O was directly formed via a 2-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) over the Au/β-CD-CN photocatalyst.