Photocatalytic HO production over photocatalysts prepared by phosphine-protected Au nanoparticles on WO

Photocatalytic H 2 O 2 synthesis is an appealing and feasible strategy to replace the energy-intensive, tedious, and waste-generating anthraquinone process. This work investigated photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production using monodisperse gold nanoclusters Au 101 (PPh 3 ) 21 Cl 5 supported on WO 3 . Both uncalcined and calcined Au 101 /WO 3 photocatalysts produce over 75 mM g −1 h −1 of H 2 O 2 under UV light irradiation while pure WO 3 is inactive. At early times (up to 30 min), the production rate of H 2 O 2 from calcined Au 101 /WO 3 reaches 173 mM g −1 h −1 and is almost double the rate of the uncalcined catalyst (93 mM g −1 h −1 ). The roles of Au 101 have been identified to reduce the charge carrier recombination and provide the active sites for O 2 reduction which significantly enhances the photoactivity. The higher photoactivity of calcined versus uncalcined Au 101 /WO 3 can be attributed to the strong metal-support interaction and aggregated Au 101 . This work highlights a simple preparation of highly active photocatalysts derived from Au 101 clusters and WO 3 to produce H 2 O 2 . Highly photoactive and stable photocatalysts derived from monodisperse phosphine-protected Au 101 on WO 3 for sustainable H 2 O 2 production.