Single Atom Ag Bonding Between PF3T Nanocluster and TiO₂ Leads the Ultra-Stable Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic...

Atomic Ag cluster bonding is employed to reinforce the interface between PF3T nano-cluster and TiO₂ nanoparticle. With an optimized Ag loading (Ag/TiO₂ = 0.5 wt%), the Ag atoms will uniformly disperse on TiO₂ thus generating a high density of intermediate states in the band gap to form the electron channel between the terthiophene group of PF3T and the TiO₂ in the hybrid composite (denoted as T@Ag05-P). The former expands the photon absorption band width and the latter facilitates the core-hole splitting by injecting the photon excited electron (from the excitons in PF3T) into the conduction band (CB) of TiO₂. These characteristics enable the high efficiency of H₂ production to 16 580 µmol h^-1 g^-1 and photocatalysis stability without degradation under visible light exposure for 96 h. Compared to that of hybrid material without Ag bonding (TiO₂@PF3T), the H₂ production yield and stability are improved by 4.1 and 18.2-fold which shows the best performance among existing materials in similar component combination and interfacial reinforcement. The unique bonding method offers a new prospect to accelerate the development of photocatalytic hydrogen production technologies.