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

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