Changeable Active Sites by Pr Doping CuSA‐TiO <sub>2</sub> Photocatalyst for Excellent Hydrogen Production
Baoye Zi, Hongshun Zheng, Tong Zhou, Qingjie Lu, Mingpeng Chen, Bin Xiao, Yumin Zhang, Zhishi Qiu, Huachuan Sun, Jianhong Zhao, Zhongge Luo, Tianwei He, Jin Zhang, Zong‐Yan Zhao, Qingju Liu
Abstract
Abstract Photocatalytic water splitting for clean hydrogen production has been a very attractive research field for decades. However, the insightful understanding of the actual active sites and their impact on catalytic performance is still ambiguous. Herein, a Pr‐doped TiO 2 ‐supported Cu single atom (SA) photocatalyst is successfully synthesized (noted as Cu/Pr‐TiO 2 ). It is found that Pr dopants passivate the formation of oxygen vacancies, promoting the density of photogenerated electrons on the CuSAs, and optimizing the electronic structure and H * adsorption behavior on the CuSA active sites. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of the obtained Cu/Pr‐TiO 2 catalyst reaches 32.88 mmol g −1 h −1 , 2.3 times higher than the Cu/TiO 2 . Innovatively, the excellent catalytic activity and performance is attributed to the active sites change from O atoms to CuSAs after Pr doping is found. This work provides new insight for understanding the accurate roles of single atoms in photocatalytic water splitting.