Photocatalytic H2O2 production driven by cyclodextrin-pyrimidine polymer in a wide pH range without electron donor or oxygen aeration

Abstract

Photocatalytic H2O2 generation has drawn growing attention for on-site H2O2 production. However, current photocatalytic systems still need organic electron donor, oxygen aeration, and acidic pH to elevate the production efficiency. We report a crosslinking polymer catalyst constructed by β-cyclodextrin aldehyde and 4-amino-6-hydroxy-2-mercaptopyrimidine to address the above challenges. This novel catalyst achieves an outstanding yield rate of 557.2 μM g−1 h−1 for photocatalytic H2O2 production in pure water and can maintain its performance over a wide pH range (1–11) without electron donor or oxygen aeration. The mechanism investigation shows that the high generation performance is attributed to the mutual promotion of water photooxidation and oxygen photoreduction. Moreover, this catalyst is demonstrated for in situ sterilization in various water bodies under visible light irradiation. The reported polymer photocatalyst addresses some of the obstacles in photocatalytic H2O2 generation, and will promote practical applications of H2O2 generation from solar energy.