Light instead of electricity: A new kind of ‘green hydrogen’

Phys.org  May 31, 2022 Photocatalytic water splitting concept is not yet used industrially. An international team of researchers (Austria, Germany, Japan) has found a new combination of molecular and solid-state catalysts to transform water into O2 molecules, and hydrogen ions into H2 molecules. They anchored clusters made up of cobalt, tungsten and oxygen for oxidizing oxygen, and clusters of sulfur and molybdenum for creating hydrogen molecules on a surface of light-absorbing support structures such as titanium oxide. The energy of the absorbed light led to the creation of free-moving electrons and free-moving positive charges in the titanium oxide. These charges […]

Single-atom alloy: Superb cocatalyst for photocatalysis

Phys.org  October 28, 2020 While surface charge state of co-catalysts plays a critical role for boosting photocatalysis, the study on surface charge regulation via their precise structure control, remains rare. Researchers in China have fabricated an MOF-stabilized bimetallic Pd-Pt nanoparticles which feature adjustable Pt coordination environment and the controlled structure from core-shell to single-atom alloy (SAA). They found that Pt surface charge regulation can be alternatively achieved by changing its coordination environment and the structure of Pd-Pt co-catalyst, where the charge between Pd and Pt is redistributed. The optimized Pd-Pt composite exhibits an exceptionally high photocatalytic hydrogen production activity, far […]