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.