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

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).