A β-cyclodextrin modified graphitic carbon nitride with Au co-catalyst for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide production

Zuo, G. et al. (2020) A β-cyclodextrin modified graphitic carbon nitride with Au co-catalyst for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide production. Nanomaterials, 10(10), 1969. (doi: 10.3390/nano10101969)

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production has attracted considerable attention as a renewable and environment-friendly method to replace other traditional production techniques. The performance of H2O2 production remains limited by the inertness of graphitic carbon nitride (CN) towards the adsorption and activation of O2. 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 H2O2 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 H2O2 production. The rate of H2O2 production reached more than 0.1 mM/h under visible-light irradiation. The electron spin resonance spectra indicated that H2O2 was directly formed via a 2-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) over the Au/β-CD-CN photocatalyst.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Zhang, Dr Ning and Vellaisamy, Professor Roy
• Authors: Zuo, G., Zhang, Y., Liu, S., Guo, Z., Zhao, Q., Saianand, G., Feng, L., Li, L., Li, W., Zhang, N., Meng, X., and Vellaisamy, R. A.L.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Nanomaterials
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2079-4991
• ISSN (Online): 2079-4991
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nanomaterials 10(10):1969
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence