Nonexpendable H2O2 induces rapid molecular oxygen activation over micropotential Cu-modulated zinc oxide

Highlights•CuZO with micropotential difference (MPD) surfaces is prepared successfully•H2O2-modulated MPD surfaces efficiently utilize H2O and O2 for O2 activation•H2O2 is nonexpendable and acts as an inducer rather than being decomposed by redoxSummaryConventional molecular oxygen activation (MOA) relies on external energy assistance or large potential difference (LPD) surface construction to break the spin-forbidden transition limitation, causing high consumption. Here, we propose a reverse idea to construct a micropotential difference (MPD) surface via a Cu-doped ZnO (CuZO) to efficiently realize an H2O2-induced MOA process with zero external energy (light/electricity) consumption. It is found that H2O2 on the MPD surface is nonexpendable and can induce rapid transfer of H2O electrons to O2, leading to an increase in O–O bonds and significant decrease in its activation energy barrier. In this way, the energy efficiency ratio of CuZO reaches 34.04 at 60 min, which is ∼310 times higher than that of a Cu2O system, and the maximum H2O2 consumption is only 2.8%. The MPD surface construction strategy precisely keeps the co-electrons in valence electron orbitals, which is key to easy activation and utilization of electrons under low-energy triggering.Graphical abstract