Hydrogen Production on Pt/TiO: Synergistic Catalysis between Pt Clusters and Interfacial Adsorbates.

Understanding the mechanism of hydrogen (H) formation from the conversion of water (HO) and renewables on TiO surfaces with cocatalysts via either photocatalysis or other catalytic processes is of significant importance to the successful design of efficient catalysts. Herein, we have investigated H production from HO, CHOH, and CHOH on a Pt cluster covered rutile (R)-TiO(110) surface (Pt/R-TiO(110)) to address the mechanism of H production. Experimental results demonstrate that surface adsorbates not only help H atom diffusion on Pt/R-TiO(110) but also take part in H production directly. Further density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that H production on Pt/R-TiO(110) occurs via a synergistic catalysis process between Pt clusters and interfacial adsorbates rather than a recombination reaction of H atoms on Pt clusters. This work provides new insight into H production from HO and renewables with Pt/TiO catalysts, which may be applicable to H production on other Pt cluster deposited metal oxide catalysts.