Porous TiO₂ Nanotubes with Spatially Separated Platinum and CoO_x Cocatalysts Produced by Atomic Layer Deposition for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes, and associated surface reactions, is a crucial aspect of efficient semiconductor photocatalytic systems employed for photocatalytic hydrogen production. A new CoO /TiO /Pt photocatalyst produced by template-assisted atomic layer deposition is reported for photocatalytic hydrogen production on Pt and CoO dual cocatalysts. Pt nanoclusters acting as electron collectors and active sites for the reduction reaction are deposited on the inner surface of porous TiO nanotubes, while CoO nanoclusters acting as hole collectors and active sites for oxidation reaction are deposited on the outer surface of porous TiO nanotubes. A CoO /TiO /Pt photocatalyst, comprising ultra-low concentrations of noble Pt (0.046 wt %) and CoO (0.019 wt %) deposited simultaneously with one atomic layer deposition cycle, achieves remarkably high photocatalytic efficiency (275.9 μmol h ), which is nearly five times as high as that of pristine TiO nanotubes (56.5 μmol h ). The highly dispersed Pt and CoO nanoclusters, porous structure of TiO nanotubes with large specific surface area, and the synergetic effect of the spatially separated Pt and CoO dual cocatalysts contribute to the excellent photocatalytic activity.

Controllable Synthesis of Mesoporous TiO2 Polymorphs with Tunable Crystal Structure for Enhanced Photocatalytic H2 Production

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water splitting on semiconductor photocatalysts is a superior and attractive way for producing renewable and clean energy. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water splitting on semiconductor photocatalysts is a superior and attractive way for producing renewable and clean energy.…”

Subnano‐Sized Pt–Au Alloyed Clusters as Enhanced Cocatalyst for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

“…The efficiency of the H 2 generation mainly depends on the photocatalytic systems . Thus, numerous attention has been paid to fabricate efficient host photocatalysts, as well as loading of cocatalysts on the host photocatalysts has been proposed to be a useful way to enhance the performance in the past few decades . It may work via the following two functions, including accelerating the photogenerated carriers separation and providing reaction sites for H 2 generation .…”

“…[3] Thus, numerous attention has been paid to fabricate efficient host photocatalysts, as well as loading of cocatalysts on the host photocatalystsh as been proposed to be au seful way to enhancet he performance in the past few decades. [4] It may work via the following two functions, including accelerating the photogenerated carriers separation and providing reaction sites for H 2 generation. [5] In the most of reports on photocatalyst systems, supported Pt catalysts have attracted the most attention in heterogeneousc atalysis fields since the capacity of supportedP t nanoparticles for H 2 evolution has been demonstrated.…”

In‐situ Platinum Plasmon Resonance Effect Prompt Titanium Dioxide Nanocube Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

“…[7][8][9] For example, it is a promising avenue to prepareanumber of clean energy such as hydrogen via photocatalytic water splitting based on TiO 2 . [10][11][12] However,a natase TiO 2 photocatalysts with wide band gap (3.2 eV) only absorb the ultraviolet region light, which is about 3% of the overall solar spectrum. [13,14] Therefore, many researchers have made many attempts to modify anatase TiO 2 ,i no rder to increase its absorption in the visiblelight region and inhibitt he recombination of electron-hole pairs.…”