Chapter 3: High-Throughput Screening of Inorganic Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Peroxide Photoproduction

The efficient discovery of new photocatalysts remains a significant challenge in the development of sustainable chemical processes, like solar-driven hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production. Traditional catalyst screening approaches are often time-consuming and labour-intensive, significantly limiting the pace of innovation. To address these limitations, high-throughput experimentation (HTE) has emerged as a promising strategy for accelerating materials discovery. In this chapter, an integrated high-throughput workflow for semiconductor screening was built by combining the high-throughput robotic colourimetric titration workstation with an existing photocatalyst screening platform. This semi-automated workflow enabled rapid and accurate evaluation of H2O2 photoproduction, with manual filtration performed prior to analysis. Candidates were identified from a literature-derived database using a chem-extraction tool and further refined through knowledge-based filtering rules relevant to photocatalysis. A total of 72 inorganic semiconductors were screened, and gallium selenide (GaSe) showed the highest H2O2 photoproduction activity. To gain further insight into its photocatalytic mechanism, a series of experiments, that is, atmospheric conditions, catalyst loading, and long-term stability.