Electron Injection via Interfacial Atomic Au Clusters Substantially Enhance the Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic H2 Production of the PF3T Enclosed TiO2 Nanocomposite
Journal
Small
Journal Volume
19
Journal Issue
40
ISSN
16136810
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Kao, Jui-Cheng
Bhalothia, Dinesh
Wang, Zan-Xiang
Lin, Hao-Wu
Tseng, Fan-Gang
Ting, Li-Yu
Chou, Ho-Hsiu
Lo, Yu-Chieh
Chen, Tsan-Yao
Abstract
A hybrid composite of organic–inorganic semiconductor nanomaterials with atomic Au clusters at the interface decoration (denoted as PF3T@Au-TiO2) is developed for visible–light-driven H2 production via direct water splitting. With a strong electron coupling between the terthiophene groups, Au atoms and the oxygen atoms at the heterogeneous interface, significant electron injection from the PF3T to TiO2 occurs leading to a quantum leap in the H2 production yield (18 578 µmol g−1 h−1) by ≈39% as compared to that of the composite without Au decoration (PF3T@TiO2, 11 321 µmol g−1 h−1). Compared to the pure PF3T, such a result is 43-fold improved and is the best performance among all the existing hybrid materials in similar configurations. With robust process control via industrially applicable methods, it is anticipated that the findings and proposed methodologies can accelerate the development of high-performance eco-friendly photocatalytic hydrogen production technologies. © 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Subjects
Au nanoclusters
density functional theory calculations
hydrogen production
linear conjugated polymers
titanium dioxide
visible–light-driven water splitting
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Type
journal article