AUTHOR=Zhang Xiaoqin , Zhang Wenna , Xu Yuanmei , Jin Mingliang 

TITLE=Defective Titanium Dioxide-supported Ultrasmall Au Clusters for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2020.616349

DOI=10.3389/fphy.2020.616349

ISSN=2296-424X

ABSTRACT=<p>Ultrasmall precious metal clusters have attracted extensive attention for providing a very specific surface and promoting electron transfer. In this work, ultrasmall Au clusters based on defective TiO<sub>2</sub> nanosheets (Au/D-TiO<sub>2</sub>) were prepared and introduced into photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Different defects of TiO<sub>2</sub> nanosheets (D-TiO<sub>2</sub>) were constructed using a heating process and then loaded with Au clusters. Compared with bare TiO<sub>2</sub>, Au clusters established on defective TiO<sub>2</sub> nanosheets with a narrower band gap showed higher light absorption performances, resulting in obviously enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production performances. The Au/D-TiO<sub>2</sub> displayed the greatly enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity of 3,142.33 μmol h<sup>−1</sup> g<sup>−1</sup>, which was over 45 times than the pure TiO<sub>2</sub>. The results showed that the catalysts had good prospects in the field of photocatalytic hydrogen production.</p>