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Vol. 15 (2023)

Improved Plasmonic Hot-Electron Capture in Au Nanoparticle/Polymeric Carbon Nitride by Pt Single Atoms for Broad-Spectrum Photocatalytic H2 Evolution

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-023-01098-2
Manyi Gao
MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China
Fenyang Tian
MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China
Xin Zhang
MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China
Zhaoyu Chen
Space Environment Simulation Research Infrastructure, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Weiwei Yang
MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China
Yongsheng Yu
MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Yongsheng Yu

ysyu@hit.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 15 (2023), Article Number: 129

Abstract

Rationally designing broad-spectrum photocatalysts to harvest whole visible-light region photons and enhance solar energy conversion is a “holy grail” for researchers, but is still a challenging issue. Herein, based on the common polymeric carbon nitride (PCN), a hybrid co-catalysts system comprising plasmonic Au nanoparticles (NPs) and atomically dispersed Pt single atoms (PtSAs) with different functions was constructed to address this challenge. For the dual co-catalysts decorated PCN (PtSAs–Au2.5/PCN), the PCN is photoexcited to generate electrons under UV and short-wavelength visible light, and the synergetic Au NPs and PtSAs not only accelerate charge separation and transfer though Schottky junctions and metal-support bond but also act as the co-catalysts for H2 evolution. Furthermore, the Au NPs absorb long-wavelength visible light owing to its localized surface plasmon resonance, and the adjacent PtSAs trap the plasmonic hot-electrons for H2 evolution via direct electron transfer effect. Consequently, the PtSAs–Au2.5/PCN exhibits excellent broad-spectrum photocatalytic H2 evolution activity with the H2 evolution rate of 8.8 mmol g−1 h−1 at 420 nm and 264 μmol g−1 h−1 at 550 nm, much higher than that of Au2.5/PCN and PtSAs–PCN, respectively. This work provides a new strategy to design broad-spectrum photocatalysts for energy conversion reaction.


Highlights:


1 A hybrid co-catalysts system comprising Au nanoparticles (NPs) and PtSAs with different functions was constructed on the polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) surface by double-solvent method.
2 For the dual co-catalysts, the Au NPs absorb relatively long-wavelength light to produce plasmonic hot-electrons, and the adjacent Pt single atoms (PtSAs) can trap the plasmonic hot-electrons effectively for H2 evolution.
3 The PtSAs–Au2.5/PCN exhibits excellent broad-spectrum photocatalytic H2 evolution activity with the H2 evolution rate of 8.8 mmol g−1 h−1 at 420 nm and 264 μmol g−1 h−1 at 550 nm, respectively.

Keywords

Polymeric carbon nitride Au nanoparticles Pt single atoms Photocatalytic H2 evolution Broad-spectrum photocatalysts
Gao, Manyi, Fenyang Tian, Xin Zhang, Zhaoyu Chen, Weiwei Yang, and Yongsheng Yu. 2023. “Improved Plasmonic Hot-Electron Capture in Au Nanoparticle/Polymeric Carbon Nitride by Pt Single Atoms for Broad-Spectrum Photocatalytic H2 Evolution”. Nano-Micro Letters 15 (May):129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-023-01098-2.
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