Circumventing bottlenecks in H2O2 photosynthesis over carbon nitride with iodine redox chemistry and electric field effects

Abstract Artificial photosynthesis using carbon nitride (g-C3N4) holds a great promise for sustainable and cost-effective H2O2 production, but the high carrier recombination rate impedes its efficiency. To tackle this challenge, we propose an innovative method involving multispecies iodine mediators (I−/I3 −) intercalation through a pre-photo-oxidation process using potassium iodide (suspected deteriorated “KI”) within the g-C3N4 framework. Moreover, we introduce an external electric field by incorporating cationic methyl viologen ions to establish an auxiliary electron transfer channel. Such a unique design drastically improves the separation of photo-generated carriers, achieving an impressive H2O2 production rate of 46.40 mmol g−1 h−1 under visible light irradiation, surpassing the most visible-light H2O2-producing systems. Combining various advanced characterization techniques elucidates the inner photocatalytic mechanism, and the application potential of this photocatalytic system is validated with various simulation scenarios. This work presents a significative strategy for preparing and applying highly efficient g-C3N4-based catalysts in photochemical H2O2 production.