Selective modification of ultra-thin g-C3N4 nanosheets on the (110) facet of Au/BiVO4 for boosting photocatalytic H2O2 production

Abstract Au/BiVO4 is a promising photocatalyst for H2O2 production owing to its appropriate energy-band structure and excellent two-electron O2 reduction ability. However, easy H2O2 decomposition by photogenerated holes limits its high-efficient H2O2 production. To alleviate the issue, in the study, BiVO4 single crystal with selective co-modification of ultra-thin g-C3N4 and Au was prepared for the first time. Specifically, ultra-thin g-C3N4 nanosheets are mainly modified on the (110) facet of BiVO4 to facilitate effective transfer of photogenerated holes and depress H2O2 decomposition, while Au is modified on its (010) facet to effectively catalyze the two-electron O2 reduction. Consequently, the photocatalyst presents excellent H2O2-production performance with 1.35 mmol L−1 in 2 h which is 2.65-fold compared with that for Au/BiVO4, and shows the best performance in the literatures related with BiVO4 based photocatalysts for H2O2 production. The present strategy provides a new insight into the design of highly efficient photocatalysts for H2O2 production.