Biomass-derived carbon for solar H₂O₂ production: Current trends and future directions

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is widely used in disinfection, wastewater treatment, and chemical production. The current global market for H₂O₂, valued at over 3.5 billion USD, shows consistent growth. However, commercial method for producing H₂O₂, anthraquinone oxidation, relies on precious metal catalysts and generates massive organic waste. Developing clean methods for large-scale H₂O₂ production remains challenging. Due to natural abundance, biomass presents promising resource for H₂O₂ production through photocatalysis. While raw biomass and certain biopolymers lack semiconducting properties do not function as typical photocatalysts, carbon materials derived from biomass via hydrothermal carbonization and other methods have shown potential for photocatalytic H₂O₂ production. However, there is lack of comprehensive overviews on advancements and limitations of biomass-derived photocatalysts for H₂O₂ production. To address this gap, this review provides an in-depth discussion on the rational transformation of biomass and biopolymers into active photocatalysts capable of driving photoinduced oxygen reduction reactions to produce H₂O₂. Various strategies for the structural modification of lignin, cellulose, sugars, hesperidin, and biomass-derived carbon dots are examined. The existing challenges and potential future directions for further advancement in this field are also summarized. We believe this review offers valuable insights for developing efficient technologies for H₂O₂ production using biomass-derived carbon-based photocatalysts.