Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Huang, Xiuying
• Zhang, Meng
• Sun, Runze
• Long, Gaoyuan
• Liu, Yifan
• Zhao, Weirong
• Nehra, Satya Pal

Titel

Enhanced hydrogen evolution from CuOx-C/TiO2 with multiple electron transport pathways

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2019-04, Vol.14 (4), p.e0215339-e0215339

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Titanium dioxide nanoparticles co-modified with CuOx (0≤x≤2) and carbonaceous materials were prepared with a simple hydrolysis and photo-reduction method for photocatalytic hydrogen generation. SEM/TEM and XPS analysis indicated that the carbonaceous materials were mostly coated on the TiO2 surface and clearly revealed that the Cu species exhibited multivalence states, existing as CuOx (0≤x≤2). The optimal catalyst showed a 56-fold enhanced hydrogen evolution rate compared with that of the pure C/TiO2 catalyst. Further, an intensive multiple electron transfer effect originating from CuOx and the carbonaceous materials is proposed to be responsible for the elevated photoactivity. CuOx species serve as electron donors facilitating charge carrier transfer and proton reduction sites. The carbonaceous materials function as the "bridge" that transfers the electrons of TiO2 to the CuOx species, which provides a new route for electron transfer and reinforces the effect of CuOx as a co-catalyst. In this study, the CuOx and C co-modified TiO2 catalyst was prepared with multiple electron transport pathways and enhanced hydrogen production evolution, which provides a deep understanding for the design of co-catalyst-based photocatalysts.