Enhancement of Photocatalytic Activity for Hydrogen Production by Surface Modification of Pt-TiO2 Nanoparticles with a Double Layer of Photosensitizers |
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Authors: | Nobutaka Yoshimura Dr Atsushi Kobayashi Dr Masaki Yoshida Prof Masako Kato |
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Institution: | Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, North-10 West-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 0600810 Japan |
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Abstract: | To investigate the effect of the surface structure of dye-sensitized photocatalyst nanoparticles, we prepared three types of RuII-photosensitizer (PS)-double-layered Pt-cocatalyst-loaded TiO2 nanoparticles with different surface structures, Zr- RuCP6 -Zr- RuP6 @N wt %Pt-TiO2, RuCP6 -Zr- RuP6 @N wt %Pt-TiO2, and RuCP2 -Zr- RuP6 @N wt %Pt-TiO2 (N=0.2, 1, and 5), and evaluated their photocatalytic H2 evolution activity in the presence of redox-reversible iodide as the electron donor. Although the driving force of the electron injection from I? to the photo-oxidized RuIII PS is comparable, the activity increased in the following order: RuCP2 -Zr- RuP6 @1 wt %Pt-TiO2 < RuCP6 -Zr- RuP6 @1 wt %Pt-TiO2 < Zr- RuCP6 -Zr- RuP6 @1 wt %Pt-TiO2. The apparent quantum yield of Zr- RuCP6 -Zr- RuP6 @1 wt %Pt-TiO2 in the first hour reached 1 %. Zeta-potential measurements suggest that the surface Zr4+-phosphate groups attracted I? anions to the nanoparticle–solution interface. Our results indicate that the surface modification of dye-sensitized photocatalysts is a promising approach to enhance photocatalytic activity with various redox mediators. |
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Keywords: | nanoparticles photocatalysis redox mediator surface modification water splitting |
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