Platinum-induced nanolization and electron-deficient gold in platinum@gold cocatalyst for efficient photocatalytic...

Simultaneous optimization of the number and intensity of oxygen (O₂) adsorption on gold (Au) cocatalyst is highly required to greatly improve their interfacial hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-production activity. However, it is a great challenge to realize the above effective modulation of Au by traditional photodeposition route. In this study, a platinum (Pt)-induced selective photodeposition method was designed to simultaneously regulate the particle size and electronic structure of Au cocatalyst for boosting the photocatalytic H₂O₂-production activity of bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) via the selective deposition of Pt@Au core-shell cocatalyst. The photocatalytic results indicate that the as-prepared BiVO₄/Pt_0.1@Au photocatalyst achieves a considerable H₂O₂-production activity with a rate of 2752.13 μmol L^-1 (AQE = 13.76 %), which is obviously higher than that of BiVO₄/Pt (137.63 μmol L^-1) and BiVO₄/Au (475.33 μmol L^-1). It was found that the introduction of Pt successfully induced the formation of Au nanoparticles for enhancing the number of O₂ adsorption. Meanwhile, the spontaneous transfer of free electrons of Au to Pt induces the generation of electron-deficient Au^δ+ sites, which spontaneously enhances the O₂-adsorption intensity for facilitating the 2-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), resulting in efficient H₂O₂ production. The present strategy may be useful for more comprehensively regulating the intensity and number of O₂ adsorption on cocatalysts to facilitate artificial photosynthesis.