Au Modified F-TiO₂ for Efficient Photocatalytic Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

In this work, Au-modified F-TiO2 is developed as a simple and efficient photocatalyst for H2O2 production under ultraviolet light. The Au/F-TiO2 photocatalyst avoids the necessity of adding fluoride into the reaction medium for enhancing H2O2 synthesis, as in a pure TiO2 reaction system. The F− modification inhibits the H2O2 decomposition through the formation of the ≡Ti–F complex. Au is an active cocatalyst for photocatalytic H2O2 production. We compared the activity of TiO2 with F− modification and without F− modification in the presence of Au, and found that the H2O2 production rate over Au/F-TiO2 reaches four times that of Au/TiO2. In situ electron spin resonance studies have shown that H2O2 is produced by stepwise single-electron oxygen reduction on the Au/F-TiO2 photocatalyst.

Keywords

• photocatalysis
• hydrogen peroxide
• fluorination
• TiO₂