Bimetallic Synergy in Ultrafine Cocatalyst Alloy Nanoparticles for Efficient Photocatalytic Water Splitting

Abstract

Herein, PtRu solid‐solution alloy nanoparticles enable high‐performance H2 evolution reaction cocatalysts through the transfer of knowledge from electrocatalysis to photocatalysis. Ultrafine PtRu alloy nanoparticles (1.0 ± 0.2 nm in diameter) are synthesized by using a chemical polyol method and used for electro/photo‐catalyses. Integration of PtRu nanoparticles with carbon and Al‐doped SrTiO3 powders via liquid‐phase adsorption and successive two‐step air and H2 annealing ensures uniform deposition of PtRu alloy nanoparticles (<2 nm) with a solid‐solution structure. The PtRu alloy nanoparticles exhibit higher electrocatalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction than monometallic Pt counterparts. Modifying Al‐doped SrTiO3 with PtRu alloy nanoparticles results in efficient photocatalytic overall water‐splitting activity with an apparent quantum yield of 65% at 365 nm and a solar‐to‐hydrogen energy conversion efficiency of 0.45%, which are the highest values among SrTiO3‐based photocatalytic water splitting systems with Rh‐free cocatalysts. Transient diffuse reflectance spectroscopy reveals that the PtRu nanoparticles have a superior electron‐capturing ability than the Pt counterparts, probably due to the decreased work function of Pt by alloying with Ru. This work establishes a framework to elucidate catalytic trends and provides rational design guidance toward the development of bimetallic solid‐solution nanoparticles as cost‐effective and highly active cocatalysts for overall water splitting.

Piezo‐Augmented and Photocatalytic Nanozyme Integrated Microneedles for Antibacterial and Anti‐Inflammatory Combination Therapy

“…High‐resolution TEM (HRTEM) image (Figure 1C) shows clear lattice stripes with a spacing of 0.22 nm, corresponding to the (111) lattice space of the alloy, which is consistent with previous literature. [ 31 ] According to the atomic force microscope (AFM, Figure 1D), the C 3 N 5 nanosheets have 8–10 layers and a height of 1.4 nm. The dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements (Figure S2, Supporting Information) display that the hydrodynamic diameter of PtRu/C 3 N 5 is 141 nm and stayed constant over 120 h. The ζ‐potentials (Figure S3, Supporting Information) of C 3 N 5 and PtRu/C 3 N 5 are −28.4 ± 1.2 and −19.1 ± 1.1 mV, respectively, which agree with the good aqueous dispersity of C 3 N 5 and PtRu/C 3 N 5 (Figure S4, Supporting Information).…”

Laser-Induced Synthesis of Electrocatalytically Active Ag, Pt, and AgPt/Polyaniline Nanocomposites for Hydrogen Evolution Reactions

“…Therefore, diversifying the strategies used for the synthesis of various multi-metallic NPs with electrocatalytical potency remains an urgent scientific problem. Up to now, different combinations of metals have displayed HER activity, such as PtCo [ 13 ], PtBi [ 14 ], PtIr/IrOx [ 15 ], PtRu [ 16 ], and RhRt [ 17 ]; however PtAg systems are of high interest because of the good miscibility of these metals and their selective corrosion in an acidic medium, caused by a large difference in their standard redox potentials [ 18 ]. Altogether, this results in less corrosion of PtAg systems during HER reaction.…”

Mesoporous crystalline Ti1-xSnxO2 (0 < x < 1) solid solution for a high-performance photocatalyst under visible light irradiation

“…To date, few examples of tin-doping titania (denoted as Ti 1-x Sn x O 2 , 0 < x < 1) have been reported, especially on nanoscale systems ( Asokan et al, 2010 ). Such compounds have been generally synthesized by solid-state reaction at high temperatures beyond 1,200°C or chemical deposition technology, such as hydrothermal ( Chen et al, 2022 ; Zhao et al, 2016 ; Ruiz Esquius et al, 2020 ), sol-gel ( Pudukudy et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2019 ), electrospinning ( Yu et al, 2018 ), and polyol-mediated methods ( Pelicano et al, 2022 ). However, these methods are limited because of the difficulty in elaborate control of doping contents and nanoparticle aggregation and the incapability of constructing hierarchical pore structures, leading to an increased probability of recombination.…”