Construction of Y-Doped BiVO 4 Photocatalysts for Efficient Two-Electron O 2 Reduction to H 2 O 2 .

Photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) production on BiVO 4 photocatalysts using water and oxygen as raw materials is a green and sustainable process. However, the photocatalytic efficiency of pristine BiVO 4 is limited by severe charge recombination. In this work, rare earth element Yttrium (Y) doped BiVO 4 photocatalysts were fabricated by the hydrothermal method. In the photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production experiment, the optimized Y-doped BiVO 4 photocatalyst produced 114 μmol g -1  h -1 of H 2 O 2 under simulated sunlight (AM1.5) irradiation, which is four times higher than production activity of pure BiVO 4 (26 μmol g -1  h -1 ). Density functional theory (DFT) calculation revealed that Y doping can enhance oxygen adsorption on the BiVO 4 photocatalyst surface. Mechanistic investigations suggest that the doping process induces the in situ formation of monoclinic/tetragonal BiVO 4 heterojunction, which further promotes the photogenerated carriers separation efficiency.