Polyvinyl alcohol as solid proton donor to modify g-CN hydrogen bonding enabling efficient photocatalytic HO production from HO and O.

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was used as a solid proton donor to improve the photocatalytic performance of graphitic carbon nitride (CN) for hydrogen peroxide (HO) production. The modified CN (CN/PVA) was prepared by mixing CN and PVA at room temperature. The HO production efficiency of CN/PVA was 5.65 times higher than that of CN in pure water. Photocurrent measurement, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and photoluminescence (PL) analysis proved that PVA increased charge separation of CN. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) analyses further suggested that PVA acted as the proton donor during HO production by interacting with CN hydrogen bonds. The combination of the charge separation enhancer and proton donor from PVA promoted the sequential two-step single-electron reduction of O for HO production. This study paves the way for the modification of g-CN with hydroxyl-containing materials as solid proton donors for photocatalytic HO production.