Decorating Pt@cyclodextrin nanoclusters on C3N4/MXene for boosting the photocatalytic H2O2 production

Abstract

Photocatalytic H₂O₂ production has become a promising alternative to obtaining H₂O₂. However, the performance of conventional photocatalysts is usually constrained by their insufficient active sites, low carrier separation, and poor light-harvesting. Herein, we report a high-performance photocatalyst fabricated by decorating per-6-thio-β-cyclodextrin (SH-β-CD)-protected platinum nanocluster (Pt@β-CD NCs) on C₃N₄/MXene (Ti₃C₂) (C₃N₄-M for short) heterojunctions. The key of this design is the employment of Pt@β-CD NCs, which not only serve as proper electron acceptors for accelerating the carrier separation and offer abundant active sites (the Pt core in NCs), but also provide plentiful “delivery channels” (the hydrophobic cavity of SH-β-CD) to promote the diffusion of reactant (O₂) to active sites. In addition, the hybridization of MXene with C₃N₄ largely improves the visible-light harvesting. Leveraging the complementary properties of the Pt core, reactive SH-β-CD ligand, C₃N₄, and MXene, the Pt@β-CD/C₃N₄-M photocatalyst showed a ∼6 times higher production of H₂O₂ (147.1 μM L⁻¹) than pristine C₃N₄ (24.2 μM L⁻¹).