Regulating Water Oxidation Pathways via Enzyme‐Inspired Microenvironment in Covalent Organic Frameworks for Overall H <sub>2</sub> O <sub>2</sub> Photosynthesis

ABSTRACT Photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production represents a sustainable and environmentally benign alternative to the energy‐intensive industrial anthraquinone process. Nevertheless, its practical viability remains fundamentally bottlenecked by the sluggish kinetics of the water oxidation reaction (WOR). Herein, we report a pore microenvironment engineering within covalent organic frameworks (COFs) to precisely steer the WOR paths. Inspired by the spatial arrangement of functional groups in natural enzymes, we construct a biomimetic microenvironment by integrating synergistic bipyridine and hydroxyl moieties into the COF backbone. This design successfully diverts the mechanism from the kinetically formidable four‐electron pathway toward a kinetically privileged two‐electron route. The resulting BPD‐COF achieves a remarkable hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) production rate of 5145 µmol g −1 h −1 in air and pure water, outperforming its monofunctional counterparts by factors of 2.0 and 4.3, respectively. Theoretical simulations reveal that the targeted introduction of hydroxyl groups substantially amplifies the localized dipole moment and optimizes the electron–hole separation descriptors, thereby inducing favorable electronic states that reconfigures the thermodynamic energy barriers for critical *OH, *HOOH, and *O intermediates. This work highlights the pivotal role of pore microenvironment engineering in dictating reaction pathways and offers a conceptual blueprint for the rational design of high‐performance artificial photosynthesis platforms.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-05-31
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.76303
Primary Topic
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Regulating Water Oxidation Pathways via Enzyme‐Inspired Microenvironment in Covalent Organic Frameworks for Overall H 2 O 2 Photosynthesis

Jieyu Yue, Peng Yang, Ruizhi Zhang, Zi‐Shuo Xu
Advanced Functional Materials
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
article

Regulating Water Oxidation Pathways via Enzyme‐Inspired Microenvironment in Covalent Organic Frameworks for Overall H 2 O 2 Photosynthesis

Jieyu Yue, Peng Yang, Ruizhi Zhang, Zi‐Shuo Xu
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production represents a sustainable and environmentally benign alternative to the energy‐intensive industrial anthraquinone process. Nevertheless, its practical viability remains fundamentally bottlenecked by the sluggish kinetics of the water oxidation reaction (WOR). Herein, we report a pore microenvironment engineering within covalent organic frameworks (COFs) to precisely steer the WOR paths. Inspired by the spatial arrangement of functional groups in natural enzymes, we construct a biomimetic microenvironment by integrating synergistic bipyridine and hydroxyl moieties into the COF backbone. This design successfully diverts the mechanism from the kinetically formidable four‐electron pathway toward a kinetically privileged two‐electron route. The resulting BPD‐COF achieves a remarkable hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) production rate of 5145 µmol g −1 h −1 in air and pure water, outperforming its monofunctional counterparts by factors of 2.0 and 4.3, respectively. Theoretical simulations reveal that the targeted introduction of hydroxyl groups substantially amplifies the localized dipole moment and optimizes the electron–hole separation descriptors, thereby inducing favorable electronic states that reconfigures the thermodynamic energy barriers for critical *OH, *HOOH, and *O intermediates. This work highlights the pivotal role of pore microenvironment engineering in dictating reaction pathways and offers a conceptual blueprint for the rational design of high‐performance artificial photosynthesis platforms.

Advanced Functional Materials
Huanggang Normal University (CN), Ministry of Education (ME)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
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