Ultrafast Electron Transfer Coupled with a Proton Relay in an Anisotropic Dual S‐Scheme Heterojunction for Overcoming Kinetics Mismatch in H <sub>2</sub> O <sub>2</sub> Photosynthesis
The kinetic mismatch between electron transfer and proton diffusion fundamentally limits the efficiency of photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production. To address this, an anisotropic dual S-scheme heterojunction (C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>/SubPc-1/C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>5</sub>) is constructed to achieve spatiotemporal synergy between charge and proton transport. This multidimensional design establishes a tridirectional (lateral, vertical, and internal) charge transfer network, enabling ultrafast electron migration. Simultaneously, the ─CONH─ bridge acts as a dual channel for concurrent electron and proton transfer. Coupled with a Yeager-type oxygen adsorption configuration that preferentially activates a dual-pathway 2e<sup>-</sup> oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the optimized catalyst achieves an exceptional H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production rate of 2048.7 µmol·g<sup>-</sup> <sup>1</sup>·h<sup>-1</sup> and an apparent quantum yield of 16.28% at 400 nm. A combination of synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (SI-XPS), femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (fs-TAS), and multiscale theoretical calculations -including density functional theory (DFT), time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations- collectively reveals that the <1 ps anisotropic dual S-scheme electron transfer mechanism works synergistically with the proton relay function to efficiently drive charge separation and reactant activation. This study provides a universal interfacial engineering paradigm for managing complex proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) processes in artificial photosynthesis.
Authors
- Yao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8643-0957)
- Bing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1097-2420)
- Xiangbo Feng
- Enzhou Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7946-7767)
- XinYi Wang
- YuZhen Zhao
- ZongCheng Miao
- Zhuo Li
Institutions
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Northwest University (CN)
- Xijing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2025-12-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202522285
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.91
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province