Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Semiconductors as Stable Photoelectrocatalysts for Efficient Hydrogen Peroxide Photosynthesis

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• 作者：Marie Jakešová ; Doǧukan Hazar Apaydin ; Mykhailo Sytnyk ; Kerstin Oppelt ; Wolfgang Heiss ; Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci and Eric Daniel Głowacki
• 刊名：Advanced Functional Materials
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：August 2, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：26
• 期：29
• 页码：5248-5254
• 全文大小：1513K
• ISSN：1616-3028

文摘

Research on semiconductor photocatalysts for the conversion of solar energy into chemical fuels has been at the forefront of renewable energy technologies. Water splitting to produce H₂ and CO₂ reduction to hydrocarbons are the two prominent approaches. A lesser-known process, the conversion of solar energy into the versatile high-energy product H₂O₂ via reduction of O₂ has been proposed as an alternative concept. Semiconductor photoelectrodes for the direct photosynthesis of H₂O₂ from O₂ have not been applied up to now. Photoelectrocatalytic oxygen reduction to peroxides in aqueous electrolytes by hydrogen-bonded organic semiconductor is observed photoelectrodes. These materials have been found to be remarkably stable operating in a photoelectrochemical cell converting light into H₂O₂ under constant illumination for at least several days, functioning in a pH range from 1 to 12. This is the first report of a semiconductor photoelectrode for H₂O₂ production, with catalytic performance exceeding prior reports on photocatalysts by one to two orders of magnitude in terms of peroxide yield/catalyst amount/time. The combination of a strongly reducing conduction band energy level with stability in aqueous electrolytes opens new avenues for this widely available materials class in the field of photo(electro) catalysis.