Solar-Driven Generation of Hydrogen Peroxide on Phenol–Resorcinol–Formaldehyde Resin Photocatalysts

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Photocatalytic generation of H 2 O 2 from water and O 2 under sunlight is a promising artificial photosynthesis reaction to generate renewable fuel. We previously found that resorcinol–formaldehyde resin powders prepared with a high-temperature hydrothermal method become semiconductors comprising π-conjugated/π-stacked benzenoid–quinoid donor–acceptor resorcinol units and are active for photocatalytic H 2 O 2 generation. Here, we have prepared phenol–resorcinol–formaldehyde resins with small amounts of phenol (∼5 mol % relative to resorcinol), which show enhanced photocatalytic activity. Incorporating phenol bearing a single −OH group in the resin matrices relaxes the restriction on the arrangement of the aromatic rings originating from the H-bonding interactions between the resorcinol −OH groups. This creates stronger donor–acceptor π-stacking and increases the electron conductivity of the resins. We have demonstrated that simulated sunlight illumination of the resins in water under an atmospheric pressure of O 2 stably generated H 2 O 2 with more than 0.9% solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency.