Hmadeh Mohamad, Hoepfner Veronika, Larios Eduardo, Liao Kristine, Jia Jia, Jose-Yacaman Miguel, Ozin Geoffrey A
Materials Chemistry Research Group, Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6 (Canada); Department of Chemistry, American University of Beirut, Beirut 11-0236 (Lebanon).
ChemSusChem. 2014 Aug;7(8):2104-9. doi: 10.1002/cssc.201402173. Epub 2014 Jun 18.
Nanorods of triniobium hydroxide heptaoxide, Nb3 O7 (OH), were synthesized by means of a hydrothermal method. Subsequently, Pt and CuO nanoparticles were introduced on the surface of Nb3 O7 (OH) nanorods by a microwave-assisted solvothermal nucleation and growth technique. The resulting Pt- and CuO-decorated Nb3 O7 (OH) nanorods demonstrated uniform particle dispersion and were fully characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and spectroscopic analysis. Furthermore, the solar-powered photocatalytic hydrogen production properties of these heteronanostructures were studied. The solar-driven H2 formation rate over Pt-Nb3 O7 (OH) was determined to be 710.4 ± 1.7 μmol g(-1) h(-1) with a quantum efficiency of ϕ=5.40% at λ=380 nm. Interestingly, the as-prepared CuO-Nb3 O7 (OH) heteronanostructure was found to be inactive under solar irradiation during an induction phase, whereupon it undergoes an in situ photoreduction process to form the photocatalytically active Cu-Nb3 O7 (OH). This restructuring process was monitored by an in situ measurement of the time-evolution of the optical absorption spectra. The solar-powered H2 production for the restructured compound was determined to be 290.3 ± 5.1 μmol g(-1) h(-1) .
