Ag-Decorated ATaO(3) (A = K, Na) Nanocube Plasmonic Photocatalysts with Enhanced Photocatalytic Water-Splitting Properties

作者：Xu, Dongbo; Yang, Songbo; Jin, Yu; Chen, Min; Fan, Weiqiang; Luo, Bifu; Shi, Weidong^*

来源：Langmuir, 2015, 31(35): 9694-9699.

DOI：10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b01294

• VISIBLE-LIGHT
• ELECTRON-TRANSFER
• HOLLOW SPHERES
• HYDROGEN
• H-2
• NANOCOMPOSITES
• DECOMPOSITION
• GENERATION
• O-2
• RESONANCE

Tanta late semiconductor nanocrystals have been at the forefront of the photocatalytic conversion of solar energy to supply hydrogen owing to their favorable and tunable optical and electronic properties as well as advances in their synthesis. However, a narrow band gap is required for response to improve the efficiency of the photocatalysts. Here we propose an efficient enhancement of the H-2 generation under simulated sunlight and visible light irradiation by a dispersion of Ag-decorated KTaO3 and NaTaO3 nanocubes. Xray diffraction and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra are used to characterize the products. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and high-resolution high-angle annular darkfield scanning TEM (HAADF-STEM) images show that the Ag nanoparticles (NPs) are uniformly loaded on the surfaces of KTaO3 and NaTaO3. The photocatalytic water-splitting results over Ag-decorated KTaO3 and NaTaO3 show that the rate for H-2 evolution from aqueous CH3OH solutions is up to 185.60 and 3.54 mu mol/h.g under simulated sunlight and the rate for H-2 evolution is more than 2 times than that of pure NaTaO3 and KTaO3 materials. However, under purely visible light illumination the highest H-2 evolution of 25.94 and 0.83 gmol/h-g is observed in the case of Ag-decorated KTaO3 and NaTaO3 nanocubes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the photocatalytic water-splitting activity of the prepared Ag-decorated KTaO3 and NaTaO3 nanocubes has been reported.

• 出版日期2015-9-8
• 单位江苏大学