Ultra-fine Cu clusters decorated hydrangea-like titanium dioxide for photocatalytic hydrogen production

摘要

Hydrogen,with the merits of zero emissions and high energy density,is one of the promising green energy sources.Seeking for high efficiency and low-cost catalysts is one of the key issues for hydrogen evolution and its practical applications.Nano-structured metal cocatalysts are widely used to improve the photocatalytic performance via surface electronic structure/properties optimization of the catalyst.Herein,we report ultra-fine(*1 nm)Cu clusters decorated hydrangea-like TiO_(2)systems for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.The pristine hydrangea-like TiO_(2)support shows a promising performance of hydrogen evolution(1.8 mmol·h^(-1)·g^(-1)),which is*10.7 times higher than that of the commercial P25(168 lmol·h^(-1)·g^(-1)).After ultra-fine Cu clusters decoration,a maximal hydrogen evolution performance(3.7 mmol·h^(-1)·g^(-1))is achieved in the optimized system 6Cu–TiO_(2)(6 wt%).Experimental and theoretical studies demonstrate that the ultra-fine Cu clusters decoration could promote the charge separation and transfer process effectively.The Cu clusters also act as reaction sites for reduction of H_(2)O to H2.These results are of great importance for the study of Cu-based co-catalyst systems and also shed light on the development of other non-noble metal co-catalysts in photocatalysis hydrogen evolution.