Gold-Nanoparticle-Loaded Carbonate-Modified Titanium(IV) Oxide Surface: Visible-Light-Driven Formation of Hydrogen Peroxide from Oxygen

Abstract

Gold nanoparticle-loaded rutile TiO2 with a bimodal size distribution around 10.6 nm and 2.3 nm (BM-Au/TiO2 ) was prepared by the deposition precipitation and chemical reduction (DP-CR) technique. Visible-light irradiation (λ>430 nm) of the BM-Au/TiO2 plasmonic photocatalyst yields 35 μm H2 O2 in aerated pure water at irradiation time (tp )=1 h, and the H2 O2 concentration increases to 640±60 μm by the addition of 4 % HCOOH as a sacrificing electron donor. Further, a carbonate-modified surface BM-Au/TiO2 (BM-Au/TiO2 -CO3 (2-) ) generates a millimolar level of H2 O2 at tp =1 h with a quantum efficiency (Φ) of 5.4 % at λ=530 nm under the same conditions. The recycle experiments confirmed the stable performance of BM-Au/TiO2 .

Keywords: hydrogen peroxide; oxygen reduction reaction; photocatalysis; plasmonics; solar chemical transformations.