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

Zhang, Yumin; Zhao, Jianhong; Wang, Hui; Xiao, Bin; Zhang, Wen; Zhao, Xinbo; Lv, Tianping; Thangamuthu, Madasamy; Zhang, Jin; Guo, Yan; Ma, Jiani; Lin, Lina; Tang, Junwang; Huang, Rong; Liu, Qingju

Abstract

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 H2 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.

Citation

Zhang, Y., Zhao, J., Wang, H., Xiao, B., Zhang, W., Zhao, X., Lv, T., Thangamuthu, M., Zhang, J., Guo, Y., Ma, J., Lin, L., Tang, J., Huang, R., & Liu, Q. (2022). Single-atom Cu anchored catalysts for photocatalytic renewable H2 production with a quantum efficiency of 56%. Nature Communications, 13, Article 58. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27698-3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jan 10, 2022
• Publication Date: Jan 10, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 13, 2023
• Journal: Nature communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Article Number: 58
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27698-3
• Keywords: General Physics and Astronomy; General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Chemistry; Multidisciplinary
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/22999076
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27698-3
• Additional Information: An Author Correction to this article was published on 11 April 2022: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29799-z