Hydrophobic Silver-Based Coordination Polymer for the Artificial Photosynthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide in a Two-Phase System

Artificial photosynthesis is a feasible solution for obtaining hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), a clean fuel and an ecologically beneficial oxidant. The reductive synthesis of H2O2 from O2 combined with the oxidative synthesis of value-added products is particularly attractive from an economic standpoint. In a benzyl alcohol (BA)/water two-phase system, we used PhC2Ag, a hydrophobic silver-based coordination polymer, to achieve the photocatalytic generation of H2O2. PhC2Ag’s hydrophobic nature allows it to well disperse in the BA rather than consume H2O2 in water. To study the optical, photocatalytic, and photoelectrochemical properties, different precursor aqueous solution approaches have been designed to synthesize PhC2Ag (AC) and PhC2Ag (N). It is found that PhC2Ag (AC) showed apparent quantum yields of 8.62% at 420 nm. This work demonstrated that a low-pH aqueous solution and by simply decreasing the volume of the aqueous phase are beneficial for H2O2 synthesis. The applications of hydrophobic photocatalysts in the field of photocatalytic energy generation have been substantially expanded.