Carbon Nitride Loaded with an Ultrafine, Monodisperse, Metallic Platinum-Cluster Cocatalyst for the Photocatalytic Hydrogen-Evolution Reaction

Daichi Yazaki; Tokuhisa Kawawaki; Daisuke Hirayama; Masanobu Kawachi; Kosaku Kato; Sota Oguchi; Yuichi Yamaguchi; Soichi Kikkawa; Yoshiya Ueki; Sakiat Hossain; D J Osborn; Fumihiko Ozaki; Shunsuke Tanaka; Jun Yoshinobu; Gregory F Metha; Seiji Yamazoe; Akihiko Kudo; Akira Yamakata; Yuichi Negishi

doi:10.1002/smll.202208287

Carbon Nitride Loaded with an Ultrafine, Monodisperse, Metallic Platinum-Cluster Cocatalyst for the Photocatalytic Hydrogen-Evolution Reaction

Small. 2023 Aug;19(34):e2208287. doi: 10.1002/smll.202208287. Epub 2023 Apr 24.

Authors

Daichi Yazaki¹, Tokuhisa Kawawaki^{1

2}, Daisuke Hirayama¹, Masanobu Kawachi¹, Kosaku Kato³, Sota Oguchi¹, Yuichi Yamaguchi^{1

2}, Soichi Kikkawa⁴, Yoshiya Ueki¹, Sakiat Hossain², D J Osborn⁵, Fumihiko Ozaki⁶, Shunsuke Tanaka⁶, Jun Yoshinobu⁶, Gregory F Metha⁵, Seiji Yamazoe⁴, Akihiko Kudo^{1

2}, Akira Yamakata³, Yuichi Negishi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science, 1-3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8601, Japan.
² Research Institute for Science & Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba, 278-8510, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-8530, Japan.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.
⁶ The Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8581, Japan.

PMID: 37093189
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202208287

Abstract

For the realization of a next-generation energy society, further improvement in the activity of water-splitting photocatalysts is essential. Platinum (Pt) is predicted to be the most effective cocatalyst for hydrogen evolution from water. However, when the number of active sites is increased by decreasing the particle size, the Pt cocatalyst is easily oxidized and thereby loses its activity. In this study, a method to load ultrafine, monodisperse, metallic Pt nanoclusters (NCs) on graphitic carbon nitride is developed, which is a promising visible-light-driven photocatalyst. In this photocatalyst, a part of the surface of the Pt NCs is protected by sulfur atoms, preventing oxidation. Consequently, the hydrogen-evolution activity per loading weight of Pt cocatalyst is significantly improved, 53 times, compared with that of a Pt-cocatalyst loaded photocatalyst by the conventional method. The developed method is also effective to enhance the overall water-splitting activity of other advanced photocatalysts such as SrTiO₃ and BaLa₄ Ti₄ O₁₅ .

Keywords: cocatalysts; hydrogen evolution; metal clusters; photocatalysis; platinum.

Abstract

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