Carbon dots-modulated covalent triazine frameworks with exceptionally rapid hydrogen peroxide production in water

Carbon dots (CDs) are incorporated into the interlamination of covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) for significantly enhanced photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production. Benefiting from CDs-induced rapid nucleation and growth of CTFs on their surface, it can be realized to achieve 13.5-fold increase in hourly productivity and the unique nanoscale sandwich structures featuring excellent charge separation properties. The resultant photocatalyst allows both the oxygen reduction reaction and water oxidation reaction to generate H 2 O 2 at the same time, exhibiting H 2 O 2 yield exceeding the production rate of the pure CTFs 22.6 folds and a solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency of 0.16%. The experimental results reveal that CDs play multiple roles in CTFs, including timely extraction and storage of photoexcited holes and the creation of intermediate bands favoring long wavelength light absorption and utilization. Besides, CDs-induced surface polarization electric field in the interlamination of CTFs can be modulated by simply adsorbing alkali metal ions to further facilitate the carrier separation and migration. As thus, the promising H 2 O 2 production efficiency is achieved.