Pt loaded porphyrin-functionalized polysulfone membrane for visible-light driven H2 evolution

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen production has been described as a promising way to obtain green hydrogen energy. Effective proton reduction sites were added to the photocatalyst's surface in order to significantly increase the photocatalytic performance. Herein, Pt atoms were anchored onto porphyrin grafted polysulfone (THPP-g-PSf) membrane by the impregnation-photoreduction method, which was marked as Pt@THPP-g-PSf. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to systematically characterize the successful preparation of Pt@THPP-g-PSf. The results show that Pt atoms have been successfully loaded into the center of porphyrin on the membrane surface. Furthermore, the performance of the Pt@THPP-g-PSf membrane for the visible light-induced splitting of water to hydrogen was studied. It is found that the hydrogen production rate of Pt@THPP-g-PSf can reach 5.7 mmol·m−2·h−1, which is two times of that of the THPP-g-PSf membrane. In addition, the electron transfer mechanism of photocatalytic hydrogen production was further investigated by time-resolved specify. The results showed that the anchored Pt atoms can facilitate the electron-hole pair (e−/h+) separation, thus improving the photocatalytic activity. This work provides a facile method to construct Pt supported porphyrin functionalized PSf membrane for visible-light induced hydrogen production.