Creation of active water-splitting photocatalysts by controlling cocatalysts using atomically precise metal nanoclusters

Abstract

This feature article describes our previous efforts for creating active water-splitting photocatalysts by using atomically precise metal nanoclusters as cocatalysts.

Creation of High‐Performance Heterogeneous Photocatalysts by Controlling Ligand Desorption and Particle Size of Gold Nanocluster

“…Au 25 (PET) 18 was synthesized with atomic precision using a reported [34] method with slight modification (Scheme 2 (a), Scheme S3, and Figure S1A(a)). For metal oxides, to apply the obtained heterogeneous catalysts as water‐splitting photocatalysts (Scheme 3 ),[ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ] BaLa 4 Ti 4 O 15 (Scheme S2(b) and S4),[ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ] which is one of the most advanced photocatalysts, was used. When metal oxides are placed in water, hydroxyl groups (‐OH) are generally formed on their surfaces.…”

Surface environment complication makes Ag29 nanoclusters more robust and leads to their unique packing in the supracrystal lattice

“…[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Consequently, metal nanoclusters are an emerging class of programmable nanomaterials for several promising applications, such as catalysis, drug delivery, energy storage, and biological applications. [21][22][23][24] In the past two decades, silver nanoclusters have received unprecedented attention in the cluster science. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] It is widely accepted that silver nanoclusters exhibit promising functionalities and intriguing physical/chemical properties that are obviously different from their gold counterparts.…”

“…14–20 Consequently, metal nanoclusters are an emerging class of programmable nanomaterials for several promising applications, such as catalysis, drug delivery, energy storage, and biological applications. 21–24…”

Toward the creation of high-performance heterogeneous catalysts by controlled ligand desorption from atomically precise metal nanoclusters

“…276,277 Several previous studies have shown that the use of atomically precise metal NCs as precursors could load metal NCs with controlled particle size on photocatalysts, which could lead to improvement of the water-splitting activity. 200, [239][240][241][242][243][244][245][278][279][280] In while preventing the increase in particle size, it is necessary to use stable Au n (SG) m NCs as a precursor (Fig. 26B), and (3) it is essential to remove the ligands by calcination to obtain higher activity (Fig.…”