Construction of Y-Doped BiVO4 Photocatalysts for Efficient Two-Electron O2 Reduction to H2O2

Photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production on BiVO4 photocatalysts using water and oxygen as raw materials is a green and sustainable process. However, the photocatalytic efficiency of pristine BiVO4 is limited by severe charge recombination. In this work, rare earth element Yttrium (Y) doped BiVO4 photocatalysts were fabricated by the hydrothermal method. In the photocatalytic H2O2 production experiment, the optimized Y-doped BiVO4 photocatalyst produced 114 mu mol g(-1) h(-1) of H2O2 under simulated sunlight (AM1.5) irradiation, which is four times higher than production activity of pure BiVO4 (26 mu mol g(-1) h(-1)). Density functional theory (DFT) calculation revealed that Y doping can enhance oxygen adsorption on the BiVO4 photocatalyst surface. Mechanistic investigations suggest that the doping process induces the in situ formation of monoclinic/tetragonal BiVO4 heterojunction, which further promotes the photogenerated carriers separation efficiency.