Decorating Pt@cyclodextrin nanoclusters on C 3 N 4 /MXene for boosting the photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production

Photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production has become a promising alternative to obtaining H 2 O 2 . 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 C 3 N 4 /MXene (Ti 3 C 2 ) (C 3 N 4 -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 (O 2 ) to active sites. In addition, the hybridization of MXene with C 3 N 4 largely improves the visible-light harvesting. Leveraging the complementary properties of the Pt core, reactive SH-β-CD ligand, C 3 N 4 , and MXene, the Pt@β-CD/C 3 N 4 -M photocatalyst showed a ∼6 times higher production of H 2 O 2 (147.1 μM L −1 ) than pristine C 3 N 4 (24.2 μM L −1 ).