Abstract
Metal-induced photocatalysis has emerged as a promising approach for exploiting visible-light-responsive composite materials for solar energy conversion, which is generally hindered by low photocatalytic efficiency. Herein, for the first time, an Au/p-TiO (p-type TiO) strategy with the hole transfer mechanism is developed, remarkably promoting visible-light photocatalytic performance. An efficient acetone evolution rate (138 μmol·g·h) in the photocatalytic isopropyl alcohol (IPA) degradation under λ = 500 nm light (light intensity, 5.5 mW/cm) was achieved over Au/p-TiO, which is approximately 5 times as high as that over Au/n-TiO under the same conditions. Photoluminescence and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements indicate enhanced charge carrier separation and transfer for Au/p-TiO. In an elaborate study, apparent quantum efficiency and transmission electron microscopy characterization on selective PbO deposition over p-TiO revealed that visible-light-excited holes other than electrons generated in the Au interband transition transferred to p-TiO, which is opposite to the general route in Au/n-TiO (n-type TiO). Energetic holes generated in the d band of Au led to a fluent transfer across the Schottky barrier, which is further confirmed by the IPA photodegradation mechanism study with different scavengers over Au/p-TiO. This discovery opens up new opportunities in designing and developing efficient metal semiconductor composite materials with visible-light response.
Citation
ID:
54231
Ref Key:
fu2019remarkableacs