Single-atom Cu anchored catalysts for photocatalytic renewable H2 production with a quantum efficiency of 56%

Single-atom catalysts anchoring offers a desirable pathway for efficiency maximization and cost-saving for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. However, the single-atoms loading amount is always within 0.5% in most of the reported due to the agglomeration at higher loading concentrations. In this work, the highly dispersed and large loading amount (>1 wt%) of copper single-atoms were achieved on TiO2, exhibiting the H-2 evolution rate of 101.7 mmol g(-1) h(-1) under simulated solar light irradiation, which is higher than other photocatalysts reported, in addition to the excellent stability as proved after storing 380 days. More importantly, it exhibits an apparent quantum efficiency of 56% at 365 nm, a significant breakthrough in this field. The highly dispersed and large amount of Cu single-atoms incorporation on TiO2 enables the efficient electron transfer via Cu2+-Cu+ process. The present approach paves the way to design advanced materials for remarkable photocatalytic activity and durability. In this work, the highly dispersed and large loading amount (>1 wt%) of copper single-atoms were achieved on TiO2, resulting into an apparent quantum efficiency of 56% at 365 nm, in addition to an excellent thermal stability as proved after storing 380 days.

Automated summary

In this work, highly dispersed and large loading amount of copper single-atoms were successfully achieved on TiO2, exhibiting excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance and stability. Furthermore, it demonstrated an apparent quantum efficiency of 56% at 365 nm, representing a significant breakthrough in this field.