Designing Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution: Are Complex Preparation Strategies Necessary to Produce Active Catalysts?

A facile synthetic route for the preparation of highly active photocatalysts was developed. The protocol involves the preparation of a photocatalyst through the direct injection of metal alkoxide precursors into solutions in a photoreactor. As a proof of concept, a tantalum oxide based photocatalyst was chosen as a model system. Tantalum ethoxide [Ta(OEt)(5)] was injected rapidly into a photoreactor filled with a water/methanol mixture, and a TaOx(OH)(y) composite formed and was able to produce hydrogen under light illumination. Compared to commercial and mesostructured Ta2O5 and NaTaO3 materials, TaOx(OH)(y) produced by direct injection shows superior hydrogen production activity. Notably, the samples prepared by direct injection are amorphous; however, their photocatalytic performance is much higher than those of their crystalline equivalents. If Ta(OEt)(5) was dispersed in methanol before injection, an amorphous framework with higher surface area and larger pore volume was formed, and the hydrogen production rate increased further. The addition of a sodium precursor during the injection further boosted the photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, this concept has also been applied to a titanium-based photocatalyst, and a much better hydrogen production rate has been obtained in comparison with that of commercial TiO2 (P25-Degussa); therefore, the direct-injection synthesis is a flexible method that opens the door to the facile preparation of highly active nanostructured photocatalysts for hydrogen production.