Controllable Interface‐Induced Co‐Assembly toward Highly Ordered Mesoporous Pt@TiO2/g‐C3N4 Heterojunctions with Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

• Published in: Advanced functional materials 2018-12, Vol.28 (50), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Zou, Yidong, Yang, Beibei, Liu, Yang, Ren, Yuan, Ma, Junhao, Zhou, Xinran, Cheng, Xiaowei, Deng, Yonghui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Assembly; Carbon nitride; Composite materials; Current carriers; Energy conversion; Heterojunctions; interface co‐assembly; Interfacial properties; Materials science; mesoporous titania; Nanoparticles; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Photodegradation; Photoelectric effect; Photoelectric emission; Rhodamine; Separation; Stability; Synergistic effect; synergistic effects; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201806214

Titania‐based materials have aroused great attention in energy conversion and photocatalytic degradation, but they suffer from the drawbacks of fast electron–hole recombination and narrow light‐adsorption range. Here, a series of heterojunction mesoporous TiO2/g‐C3N4 (mTiO2/g‐C3N4) composites with improved light‐adsorption capacity and efficient light‐capturing property are designed through a novel solid–liquid interface induced co‐assembly strategy and controlling the interface property of g‐C3N4. Through introducing Pt precursor during the synthesis, ultrasmall Pt nanoparticles are in situ generated in the mTiO2/g‐C3N4 composites, forming mesoporous Pt@TiO2/g‐C3N4 (mPt @ TiO2/g‐C3N4‐4.0) with abundant surface active sites, and huge heterojunction interfaces. The obtained mPt @ TiO2/g‐C3N4‐4.0 photocatalysts have narrow band gap (≈2.96 eV) and superior performance in promoting separation of photogenerated charge carriers. They show ultrahigh photocurrent density (≈8.3 µA cm−2) that is five times higher than that of mTiO2/g‐C3N4‐4.0 (≈1.6 µA cm−2) due to the effective charge separation between the semiconductors and Pt nanoparticles, as well as the synergistic effect at heterojunction interfaces. In addition, mPt @ TiO2/g‐C3N4 photocatalysts show excellent performance in photodegradation of rhodamine B with fast decomposition rate within 8 min. These results foresee the wide‐range applications of the composite photocatalysts potential candidates for solar‐to‐fuel conversion and environmental remediation. Ordered mesoporous crystalline Pt@TiO2/g‐C3N4 heterojunction catalyst based on hydrophilic–hydrophobic/surface‐charge controllable strategy presents excellent photodegradation efficiency for rhodamine B and photocurrent density. The heterojunction exhibits prominent light absorption capacity (200–700 nm) and electron–hole separation ability (band gap ≈2.96 eV), which opens a door for constructing highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts with uniform mesoporous structure.