Hydrogen peroxide-photofuel cell using TiO2 photoanode

•One-compartment photofuel cell (PFC) using TiO2 photoanode and H2O2 as a fuel is fabricated.•The H2O2-PFC stably works under UV-light irradiation at ambient temperature and pressure.•The H2O2-PFC provides a Jsc of 0.24 mA cm− 2 and Voc of 0.72 V under UV-light irradiation.•The H2O2-PFC shows visible-light responsiveness originating from the surface Ti-OOH complex.

Hydrogen peroxide-fuel cell (H2O2-FC) possesses a theoretical power generating efficiency of 119% much larger than hydrogen/oxygen (H2/O2)-FC (82.9%) with a thermodynamic electromotive force of 1.09 V. This communication presents the prototype of H2O2-photofuel cell (PFC) without using noble metal catalyst. The H2O2-PFC is comprised of mesoporous anatase TiO2 nanocrystalline film coated on fluorine-doped tin oxide electorode (mp-TiO2/FTO, photoanode), glassy carbon (cathode), and an aqueous electrolyte solution containing 0.1 M NaClO4 and 0.1 M H2O2. Under UV-light irradiation, the H2O2-PFC stably works, providing a short-circuit current of 0.24 mA cm− 2 and an open-circuit voltage of 0.72 V at ambient temperature and pressure, while current hardly flows in the dark. Further, the PFC responds to visible-light due to the charge-transfer complex formation of H2O2 on the TiO2 surface.

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