Facile fabrication of carbon dots containing abundant h-BN/graphite heterostructures as efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen peroxide synthesis

Carbon dots with hexagonal boron nitride/graphite (h-BN/G) heterostructure are prepared and used as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen peroxide synthesis by 2 e- oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This abundant heterostructure are fabricated by sucrose-assisted h-BN exfoliating followed by graphite growing progress. The catalytic activity of the carbon dots is superior to the reported carbon-based electrocatalysts in an alkaline environment, with the achieved selectivity of 88%− 95% at 0.45–0.75 V vs. RHE, the mass activity of 960 mmol gcatalyst−1 h−1 and over 90% Faradaic efficiency. The experimental results and density functional theory simulation demonstrate that the h-BN/G heterostructure possesses outstanding catalytic performance to 2 e- ORR, and the electron-deficient B atoms at the heterostructure act as the key active sites. This research emphasizes the promise of heterostructure in highly efficient carbon-based electrocatalyst and provides a facile method for fabricating other heterostructures. [Display omitted] •We develop a facile method to fabricate carbon dots containing abundant heterostructure of h-BN/graphite as efficient electrocatalyst for HO2- synthesis.•The catalyst shows high 88%-95% HO2- selectivity.•The high HO2- production (960 mmol gcatalyst−1 h-1) and Faradaic efficiency (over 90%) is superior to the reported carbon-based catalysts.•DFT demonstrates the B atoms at the interface of h-BN/graphite heterostructure are the key active sites.