@article{592bb4847af54d60b058129694f22a98,
title = "Function-switchable metal/semiconductor junction enables efficient photocatalytic overall water splitting with selective water oxidation products",
abstract = "A novel metal/semiconductor photocatalyst, Cu nanoparticles (NPs) modified TiO2 hollow spheres (Cu/TiO2), was designed for efficient photocatalytic overall water splitting (POWS) under both ultraviolet (UV) and visible (Vis) light. This Cu/TiO2 photocatalyst possesses excellent POWS performance under Vis light at the highest level among the reported TiO2-based photocatalysts. Interestingly, the metal/semiconductor junction formed between Cu and TiO2 enables controlled water-oxidation product selectivity (H2O2 or O2) via different reaction pathways regulated by irradiation wavelengths. Under UV light, the electrons excited in TiO2 are captured by Cu NPs through the Cu/TiO2 Schottky interface for H2 production, with the photoholes in TiO2 producing H2O2 through a two-electron process; whilst under Vis light, Cu NPs act as plasmon to inject hot electrons to TiO2 for H2 production, while O2 is produced by hot holes on Cu NPs via a four-electron process. This rational design of function-switchable metal/semiconductor junction may be helpful to understand the mechanisms for POWS with desired gas/liquid water-oxidation products.",
keywords = "Metal/semiconductor junction, Photocatalysis, Product selectivity, Reaction pathway, Water splitting",
author = "Daixing Wei and Yubo Tan and Yiqing Wang and Tingting Kong and Shaohua Shen and Mao, {Samuel S.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51672210 and 21875183), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFE0193900), National Program for Support of Top-notch Young Professionals, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (2018JQ2028), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M640981). Daixing Wei, Yubo Tan and Tingting Kong carried out the sample synthesis, characterizations and photocatalysis measurements. Yiqing Wang carried out the first-principles density functional theory calculations. Daixing Wei and Shaohua Shen wrote the paper. Shaohua Shen and Samuel S. Mao conceived the idea and supervised the project. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript. Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 51672210 and 21875183 ), National Key Research and Development Program of China ( 2017YFE0193900 ), National Program for Support of Top-notch Young Professionals, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities , Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China ( 2018JQ2028 ), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation ( 2018M640981 ). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Science China Press",
year = "2020",
month = aug,
day = "30",
doi = "10.1016/j.scib.2020.04.042",
language = "British English",
volume = "65",
pages = "1389--1395",
journal = "Science Bulletin",
issn = "2095-9273",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",
number = "16",
}
