Natural-Sunlight-Driven H2O2 Photosynthesis Over Bandgap Engineered Truxene-Based Porous Aromatic Frameworks.

Abstract

Developing efficient photocatalysts for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) photosynthesis driven by natural sunlight is of great interest. In this study, we designed two photoactive donor (D)-acceptor (A) type truxene-based porous aromatic frameworks (Tx-PAFs) by introducing different electron acceptors as linker units. It was found that fluorenone-linked Tx-PAF with stronger D-A interaction exhibits a broader light absorption range and enhanced charge separation. This Tx-PAF displayed the superior photocatalytic H2O2 production with the rates of 3443 μmol g-1 h-1 (O2 atmosphere) and 1153 μmol g-1 h-1 (air) under Xe lamp irradiation. Notably, it can also achieve an H2O2 production rate of 716 μmol g-1  h-1 even under natural sunlight irradiation. This work provides feasible access to designing efficient and stable PAF-based photocatalysts for H2O2 production directly driven by solar energy.