Colour centre controlled formation of stable sub-nanometer transition metal clusters on TiO2 nanosheet for high efficient H2 production

The transition elements (Fe, Co, Ni) are important substitutes for noble metals as the co-catalysts in hydrogen evolution reaction. Enhancing the atom utilization efficiency is highly desirable, but preparation and preservation of the transition metal catalysts with the size downscaling to sub-nanometer are challenging. In this work, Fe, Co and Ni clusters with subnano size as co-catalysts are synthesized by controllable growth on 2D ultrathin TiO2(B) nanosheets for hydrogen evolution using a photo deposition method. The ultra-small Fe, Co, and Ni co-catalysts on the TiO2(B) nanosheets exhibit remarkably enhanced photo activities, compared to that with the best N loading. It is found that the oxygen bridge vacancies act as the colour centres locating at the position adjacent to the O-1-Ti-1 sites on the TiO2(B) (0 0 1) surface. The photo-colouration and photo-bleaching have significantly impact on the nucleation and growth of the metallic clusters. The high density and uniform dispersion of the sub-nano-sized transition metal clusters benefits for the photo reduction under light irradiation, as well as efficient carrier separation, leading to a great improvement of the photo activity.