Recently, our latest research paper "Spaced Double Hydrogen Bonding in an Imidazole Poly Ionic Liquid Composite for Highly Efficient and Selective Photocatalytic Air Reducing H2O2 Synthesis" was published online in Angewandte Chemie International Edition (IF: 16.6). Jiangsu University is the first completion unit, and our master's student Cheng Yu and teacher Jin Jie are co first authors. Our teacher Lu Ziyang is the corresponding author.

Developing high-performance and environmentally friendly H2O2 production strategies is a new approach to addressing the current environmental and energy crisis. The photocatalytic two electron pathway oxygen reduction reaction is considered a promising alternative to industrial anthraquinone processes due to its low thermodynamic energy barrier and fast reaction kinetics. However, the reaction requires a high concentration of oxygen, and the O2 purification process incurs additional costs. Therefore, using lower concentrations of oxygen in the air as raw materials to produce H2O2 is an economical and ideal method. Unlike other gases in the air, O2 molecules have high electronegativity, and photocatalytic materials with positively charged sites are expected to selectively capture O2 from the air using charge attraction. Research has found that imidazole ionic liquid materials not only carry a positive charge to selectively capture O2, but also the imidazole ring can serve as an active site for photocatalytic reactions. Therefore, rational design of imidazole ionic liquid materials is expected to achieve efficient photocatalytic conversion of O2 to H2O2 under air conditions.

This research achievement has received funding from projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Article link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202400857