Plasmonic Au functionalized 3D SrTiO3/TiO2 hollow nanosphere enables efficient solar water splitting

Semiconductor-based photocatalyst serves as an attractive candidate for harnessing solar energy to gen-erate renewable hydrogen via water splitting. Here, a novel Au/SrTiO3/TiO2 (T3) photocatalyst of 3D SrTiO3/ TiO2 hollow nanosphere decorated by plasmonic Au nanoparticle (NP) is precisely constructed via an in-situ growth of cubic SrTiO3 on anatase TiO2 hollow nanospheres. By carefully regulating the SrTiO3/TiO2 in-terface structure, the optimized Au/SrTiO3/TiO2 (T3) photocatalyst achieves a remarkable photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of 327.8 mu mol g-1 h-1 without Pt as cocatalyst. Specifically, spectroscopic analyses and characterization results comprehensively prove that the favorable plasma electric field (Au) and the internal electric field (SrTiO3/TiO2 heterojunction) coupled with the 3D electron transfer channel in 3D Au-SrTiO3/ TiO2 hollow nanospheres synergistically promote the interfacial charge separation and accelerate the in-terfacial transfer of charge carriers for efficient solar-driven photocatalytic H2 evolution. This work presents a new strategy for the rational design of plasmonic metal functionalized 3D heterojunction photocatalysts for highly efficient solar-to-chemical energy conversion.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this work, a novel Au/SrTiO3/TiO2 (T3) photocatalyst was constructed by precisely growing cubic SrTiO3 on anatase TiO2 hollow nanospheres. The optimized Au/SrTiO3/TiO2 (T3) photocatalyst achieved a remarkable photocatalytic H2 evolution rate under solar irradiation due to the synergistic effects of plasma electric field and internal electric field in the 3D Au-SrTiO3/TiO2 hollow nanospheres.