Improving the photocatalytic hydrogen production of SrTiO3 by in situ loading ethylene glycol as a co-catalyst. Issue 21 (24th September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhu, Liuyang; Gu, Wen; Chen, Jifang; Liu, Huan; Zhang, Yingying; Wu, Qingmei; Zhang, Yuanxi; Fu, Zhengping; Lu, Yalin
• Is Part Of: Inorganic chemistry frontiers. Volume 7:Issue 21(2020)
• Page Start: 4133
• Page End: 4141
• Publication Date: 2020-09-24
• Subjects: Chemistry, Inorganic -- Periodicals; 546.05
• DOI: 10.1039/d0qi00807a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2052-1553

Abstract

Abstract : Ethylene glycol, as a cocatalyst, is supported on the surface of SrTiO3, which greatly promotes the photocatalytic reaction efficiency. Abstract : Co-catalysts such as precious metals are usually necessary to promote the photocatalytic generation of hydrogen from water through inhibiting the recombination of photo-generated carriers. However, precious metals are expensive and harmful to the environment. In this work, an ethylene glycol (EG) molecule, which was chemically anchored on SrTiO3 nanoparticles (EG@STO) via an in situ process, was used as a co-catalyst for the first time. The first-principles calculation shows that the EG molecule chemically anchored on SrTiO3 is beneficial for the directional migration of carriers and accelerates the hydrogen evolution reaction. A photocatalytic hydrogen generation efficiency of 237 μmol g −1 h −1 was achieved with EG@STO, which is 19.5 times higher compared to that of SrTiO3 . Moreover, EG@STO remained stable after 32 hours of reaction; in other words, the EG molecule is designed as a new type of efficient and stable co-catalyst, which provides an alternative approach for better semiconductor photocatalytic hydrogen reduction.