Ultra‐low Loading of Au Clusters on Nickel Nitride Efficiently Boosts Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production with Titanium Dioxide

Abstract

Platinum (Pt) is a widely used co-catalyst with excellent performance for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. However, it is not suitable for industrial production because of its prohibitive cost. Currently, there are two means to overcome this challenge. One is to, find alternative cocatalysts for Pt. The other is to develop ultrasmall of noble metal clusters, which reduces the amount of noble metal loading required. This reduces the loading amount of noble metals and improves their atomic efficiency. In this work, we have integrated both these approaches to generate a non-noble metal co-catalyst nickel nitride (Ni 3 N) and Au clusters (Au c ). The composite cocatalyst (Ni 3 NÀ Au c ) thus obtained promotes photocatalytic hydrogen production of TiO 2 . The (Ni 3 NÀ Au c À TiO 2 ) composite with an ultralow amount of Au c (0.00025 wt%) shows photocatalytic hydrogen production rates that are even higher than that of PtÀ TiO 2 . The loading requirement of noble metal is reduced by 99.95 wt% compared to the optimal load of Pt; further indicating the cost efficiency possible through this method.

Recent Advances in Transition Metal Nitride‐Based Materials for Photocatalytic Applications

“…found that the Ni 3 NAuTiO 2 sample with ultralow loading of Au clusters exhibits the most photocatalytic hydrogen production rate (87.7 µmol g –1 h –1 ) compared with Ni 3 NTiO 2 . [ 173 ] The excessive amount of Au clusters becomes the charge carriers recombination centers of Ni 3 NAuTiO 2 samples. It indicates that Ni 3 N as support can efficiently decrease the loading amount of noble metal co‐catalysts toward photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction.…”

“…It indicates that Ni 3 N as support can efficiently decrease the loading amount of noble metal co‐catalysts toward photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. [ 173 ]…”

“…In addition, Meng et al found that the Ni 3 NAuTiO 2 sample with ultralow loading of Au clusters exhibits the most photocatalytic hydrogen production rate (87.7 µmol g -1 h -1 ) compared with Ni 3 NTiO 2 . [173] The excessive amount of Au clusters becomes the charge carriers recombination centers of . Reproduced with permission.…”

“…It indicates that Ni 3 N as support can efficiently decrease the loading amount of noble metal co-catalysts toward photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. [173] Ternary nitrides of Ni are also increasingly gaining prominence. Recently, Wang et al synthesized a kind of NiMo ternary nitrides based 1D hierarchical structure with In 2 S 3 coating (In 2 S 3 Ni 0.2 Mo 0.8 N(Ni) and In 2 S 3 Ni 0.2 Mo 0.8 N) (Figure 10e).…”

Metal nitride-based nanostructures for electrochemical and photocatalytic hydrogen production

“…The potent of Ni 3 N as a co-catalyst has been experimentally illustrated with Ni 3 N/2D-C 3 N 4 nanocomposite, the obtained HER of ∼1347.8 μmol/g/h is higher than Ni-based or even many noble metals-based C 3 N 4 composite [ 273 ]. In addition, Yang et al [ 274 ] have demonstrated photocatalytic water splitting with Ni 3 N-Au-TiO 2 composite with ultralow Au concentration of 0.00025 wt% which exhibits HER of 86.7 μmolg −1 h −1 even higher than Pt-TiO 2 (73.4 μmolg −1 h −1 ). The enhancement is attributed to the synergistic effect of Ni 3 N and Au nanocluster that accelerated the charge separation and transport phenomenon.…”