In-situ Pt nanoparticles decorated BiOBr heterostructure for enhanced visible light-based photocatalytic activity: Synergistic effect

Advanced functional materials for photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) generation using abundant solar energy are the core of new and renewable energy research. In this paper, we report the in-situ deposition of platinum quantum sized particles (Pt QDs) on bismuth oxybromide (BBr) 3D marigold flowers with exposed (101)/(110) facets (i.e. BBr-Pt) hierarchies prepared by a simple solvo-thermal method acting as a surfactant/structure stabilizer in the presence of CTAB. Synthesized samples were characterized by a series of analytical techniques. Intimate contact as demonstrated by HRTEM, effect of Pt loading in 3D-BiOBr nanostructure on photocatalytic H-2 production and crystal violet (CV) dye degradation rate under white LED light irradiation was studied. This was greatly improved by loading Pt QDs on BBr, the latter showing the highest photocatalytic activity for BBr-2Pt nanostructure, due to the synergistic effect of quantum-sized Pt nanoparticles and exposed ((101) and (110) planes). The BBr-2Pt nanostructure photocatalysts showed highest H-2 generation of 320.69 mu mol g(-1,) which is 142 folds larger than bare BBr (2.26 mu mol g(-1)).

Automated summary

This paper reports the development of advanced functional materials for photocatalytic hydrogen generation using abundant solar energy. Platinum quantum sized particles were deposited on bismuth oxybromide nanostructures, resulting in improved photocatalytic activity due to the synergistic effect of exposed (101) and (110) planes. The synthesized nanostructure catalyst showed significantly higher hydrogen generation efficiency compared to bare bismuth oxybromide.