Accurate fabrication and orientation of electron acceptor and donor active sites for enhancing photocatalytic overall water splitting

Abstract

Precisely regulating the transfer path of charge carriers and triggering active sites is a robust yet extremely challenging strategy to realize efficient photocatalysis. Herein, we engineered a photocatalyst co-decorated with Pt single atoms (Pt₁) and Pt nanoparticles (Pt_NP) to open up the transfer path of photo-generated electrons and holes, which allowed for the accurate fabrication and orientation of electron acceptor and donor active sites on different supports, such as La-doped SrTiO₃ (La-STO), TiO₂, g-C₃N₄ and MIL-125. In the case of La-STO, Pt₁/Pt_NP/La-STO displayed roughly 16 and 26 times higher overall water-splitting activity than Pt₁/La-STO and Pt_NP/La-STO. The experimental and theoretical analyses reveal that the enhancement of overall water-splitting performance occurs because of the co-decoration of electron acceptor (Pt₁) and donor (Pt_NP) active sites on La-STO. Promisingly, this work demonstrates a novel method for accurately controlling active sites to obtain highly efficient photocatalysts.