Synthesis of metal semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions

Abstract

Polymeric carbon nitride – Titanium dioxide – Platinum (PCN-TiO2-Pt), was synthesized through a series of processes including solvothermal, hydrolysis, annealing and photo-deposition to investigate its photocatalytic efficiency. PCN-TiO2-Pt material consists of hybrid heterojunctions: metal-semiconductor (M-S) and semiconductor-semiconductor (S-S) junctions.

PCN-TiO2-Pt has proven to achieve higher photocatalytic activity at 2037.2μmol/g of H2 after 3 hours under stimulated solar light, which is about 1.6 times more than the commonly used Melamine in Melamine-TiO2-Pt. The presence of a cavity in the yolk-shell structure in PCN-TiO2-Pt has facilitated the movement of sacrificial reagent into the active sites for oxidation. This synergic effect contributes to the process of photocatalysis. Moreover, the material's M-S Schottky junction and S-S type II junction have demonstrated vital significance in enhancing the photocatalytic efficiency of the material.