Intercalation of Highly Dispersed Metal Nanoclusters into a Layered Metal Oxide for Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting

Metal nanoclusters (involving metals such as platinum) with a diameter smaller than 1nm were deposited on the interlayer nanospace of KCa2Nb3O10 using the electrostatic attraction between a cationic metal complex (e.g., [Pt(NH3)(4)]Cl-2) and a negatively charged two-dimensional Ca2Nb3O10- sheet, without the aid of any additional reagent. The material obtained possessed eight-fold greater photocatalytic activity for water splitting into H-2 and O-2 under band-gap irradiation than the previously reported analog using a RuO2 promoter. This study highlighted the superior functionality of Pt nanoclusters with diameters smaller than 1nm for photocatalytic overall water splitting. This material shows the greatest efficiency among nanosheet-based photocatalysts reported to date.