Oxygen Gas Nanovessel Promotes Hydrogen Peroxide Photosynthesis

Harnessing sunlight to drive the two-electron reduction of oxygen presents a promising approach for on-site H2O2 generation. However, the efficacy of this process is hampered by its low solubility and inadequate supply of O2 in water. To address this challenge, we introduce an O2 gas nanovessel strategy to enhance O2 availability during H2O2 photosynthesis. These O2 nanovessels composed of silica zeolite can adsorb and store O2 and then swiftly release it as dissolved O2 when needed during photosynthesis. This approach leads to a remarkable 3.0-fold increase in H2O2 yield by the CoOx/Mo:BiVO4/Pd system, achieving a high apparent quantum yield of 13% at 375 nm and a solar-to-H2O2 conversion efficiency of 0.6% at full spectrum in pure water under ambient air conditions. Our findings present a viable solution to the O2 limitation bottleneck in H2O2 photosynthesis and hold potential for application in other gas-limited photosynthetic systems.