Internal Electric Field Assisted Photocatalytic Generation of Hydrogen Peroxide over BiOCl with HCOOH

Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) is a superb, clean, and versatile reagent. However, large-scale production of H 2 O 2 is manufactured through nongreen methods that motivate people to develop more efficient and green technologies as alternatives. As a novel and green technology used for H 2 O 2 generation, the efficiency of photocatalysis is still far from satisfactory. Here, we demonstrate a novel and efficient path of the generation of H 2 O 2 in BiOCl photocatalysis but not the direct electron reduction of O 2 or hole oxidation of OH – to H 2 O 2 . Super high production (685 μmol/h) of H 2 O 2 by the addition of HCOOH as the hole shuttle was realized over BiOCl nanoplates. In this photocatalytic system, the BiOCl supplied abundant photoinduced holes to initiate HCOO • radical. The HCOO • further reacts with OH – to •OH which is proven to be the source of the H 2 O 2 . Apart from HCOOH, O 2 also played important roles. The O 2 not only promoted the reaction through the cycle between Bi 3+ and Bi, which decreased the combination of carriers, but also avoided the carbonation of surfaces, thus achieving the high production of H 2 O 2 (1020 μmol/h). In this work, we shed light on a deep understanding of the photocatalytic evolution of H 2 O 2 in a novel perspective and achieve high production.