Abstract

This study explores the challenges to photo-reforming sacrificial chemicals into beneficial by-products while improving photocatalytic activity in H2O2 production by addressing several issues. The resorcinol-formaldehyde/graphitic carbon nitride composite (RF0.2GCN) with nanosheet-like RF morphology achieved a higher degree of surface-to-surface contact through -C-NH-CH2- and -NH-CH-OH than the nanosphere (RF0.8GCN). The RF0.2GCN produced H2O2 at 325.2 µg g-1 s-1 in the presence of oxalic acid (OA) at pH 2.1 with apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 12.7%. The conduction band position potential was +0.54 VNHE, which is thermodynamically unfavorable for H+/H2 (E°: 0.00 VNHE) and O2/·O2- (E°: -0.046 VNHE) reaction and also inhibits the decomposition of H2O2 (H2O2/·OH, E°: +0.39 VNHE). Furthermore, the decomposition of OA formed formic acid (FA) at 82% selectivity and concurrent CO2·- formation could promote electron density in the conduction band via its electron-donating ability. H2O2 was purified by isolating FA using anion exchange resin, and FA was recovered by desorption from the resin using HCl (pH 3).