Editors: | F. Kongoli, F. Marquis, N. Chikhradze, T. Prikhna, M. De Campos, S. Lewis, S. Miller, S. Thomas. |
Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
Publication Year: | 2022 |
Pages: | 290 pages |
ISBN: | 978-1-989820-68-1(CD) |
ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
Photocatalytic hydrogen production through water splitting based on semiconductor catalysts has been the subject of intense research since it delivers an alternative to substitute fossil fuels with clean and renewable energy [1]. In the pioneering work, in 1972, Honda and Fujishima [2] successfully demonstrated photocatalytic H2 generation by water splitting using semiconductor photo-catalysts. Photocatalytic water splitting by utilizing broadband spectral response from UV to near-infrared (NIR) region is a big challenge and yet a prime target. 50% of the solar spectrum constituted by NIR light, and in this work, our objective is to increase absorption range from UV-visible to NIR by using (UCNPs)-Pt@MOF/Au composites. In this context, lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) can convert NIR to UV and visible, which are then harvested by the metal-organic framework (MOF) and Au. MOF and plasmonic Au nanoparticles (NPs) broaden the absorption of UV light to a visible region as well as speed up the transfer of charges considerably [3]. For this experiment, we used MIL-125 as a MOF because it is a wide-bandgap semiconductor [4]. The spatial separation of Pt and Au particles by the MOF further steers the charge migration and also provides access to active Pt sites for the catalytic product; as a result, the optimized composite exhibits high photocatalytic H2 production rate under UV, visible and NIR regions.
[1] N.S. Lewis, D.G. Nocera, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 103 (2006) 15729–15735. [2] A. Fujishima, K. Honda, Nature 238 (1972) 37–38. [3] D. Li, S.H. Yu, H.L. Jiang, Adv. Mater. 30 (2018) 1–7.