Early View e202511687
Forschungsartikel

Fully Exposed Silver Clusters Enabling Highly Efficient Photocatalytic H2O2 Production in Pure Water

Qian Liu

Qian Liu

School of Materials Science and Engineering and Smart Sensing, Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350 China

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Hao Bi

Hao Bi

School of Materials Science and Engineering and Smart Sensing, Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350 China

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Ran Zhao

Ran Zhao

School of Materials Science and Engineering and Smart Sensing, Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350 China

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Xiaowen Yang

Xiaowen Yang

School of Materials Science and Engineering and Smart Sensing, Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350 China

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Fangyuan Chen

Corresponding Author

Fangyuan Chen

School of Materials Science and Engineering and Smart Sensing, Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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Prof. Zhurui Shen

Corresponding Author

Prof. Zhurui Shen

School of Materials Science and Engineering and Smart Sensing, Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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First published: 20 July 2025

Abstract

Photocatalytic production of H2O2 in pure water holds great potential for sustainable industry. However, this prospect is greatly hindered by its sluggish reaction kinetics involving multistep electron transfer and unstable intermediates. Herein, the fully exposed silver (Ag) clusters were anchored on poly(heptazinimide) (PHI) catalyst, forming a new kind of fully exposed cluster catalysts (FECCs), which can boost photocatalytic generation of H2O2 in pure water, with a rate up to 1075.5 µmol g−1 h−1, surpassing its Ag single atoms counterpart and many recent-reported state-of-the-art photocatalysts. In situ characterization and DFT analysis showed that fully exposed Ag clusters can form the electron-rich centers and optimize the binding energy of the O2 and proton H, which in turn enhances the protonation process of *OOH, reducing the energy barrier of key steps, and finally leading to a high yield of H2O2. Interestingly, its Ag single-atom counterpart was favorable for decomposing the H2O2 into ·OH. Thus, Ag FECCs achieve significantly enhanced tetracycline degradation efficiency with the strategic incorporation of Ag single atoms.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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