Abstract
The photocatalytic activities of polyoriented and preferential Pt(111) nanoparticles supported on TiO2(Pt(poly)/TiO2and Pt(111)/TiO2) were investigated by the photocatalytic hydrogen generation from water under visible-light irradiation. The photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of Pt(111)/TiO2was 1.6 times higher than that of Pt(poly)/TiO2. The corresponding apparent activation energy on Pt(111)/TiO2was about 2.39 KJ/mol, while on Pt(poly)/TiO2, it was about 4.83 KJ/mol. The difference in the apparent activation energies was probably due to the diversity in the number of surface atoms at corners and edges between the Pt(poly) and Pt(111) nanoparticles. The photocurrent of Pt(111)/TiO2was also bigger than that of Pt(poly)/TiO2, implying that the surface structure of Pt(111) nanoparticles can improve the transfer efficiency of photo-induced electrons from the conduction band of TiO2to Pt nanoparticles. As a result, the surface structure of Pt nanoparticles played an important role in the reactivity and kinetics performance of hydrogen evolution. Therefore, the photocatalytic properties of Pt/TiO2strongly depended on the surface structure of Pt nanoparticles.
Highlights
TiO2 is the most widely used photocatalyst
It was desirable to exploit the influence of Pt nanoparticles with different surface structure on photocatalytic activity of TiO2 so as to improve hydrogen evolution efficiency and significantly reduce consumption of the Pt loaded on TiO2 while maintaining the high photocatalytic activity
We found that the different surface structure of Pt nanoparticles had significant influence on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 in suspension solution
Summary
TiO2 is the most widely used photocatalyst. Up to now, the energy conversion efficiency from solar to hydrogen by TiO2 photocatalytic water splitting is still low, mainly resulting from the following reasons: (1) the quick recombination of photo-generated electron/hole pairs; (2) the fast backward reaction, that is, the recombination reaction of hydrogen and oxygen into water; (3) the wide band-gap only excited by ultraviolet irradiation [1]. There were still no reports about the effect of the surface structure of loaded platinum nanoparticles on photocatalytic activity of TiO2. It was desirable to exploit the influence of Pt nanoparticles with different surface structure on photocatalytic activity of TiO2 so as to improve hydrogen evolution efficiency and significantly reduce consumption of the Pt loaded on TiO2 while maintaining the high photocatalytic activity. We found that the different surface structure of Pt nanoparticles had significant influence on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 in suspension solution. The particle size, shape, and chemical state of Pt nanoparticles as well as their effect on photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution from water were studied in detail
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