Key Laboratory of Materials Modification by Laser, Ion and Electron Beams,Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering,Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116000, China
This study presents a non-traditional hydrothermal method for synthesizing a zinc oxide film-supported platinum nanoparticle photocatalyst in a one-step reaction between a metal film and ultrapure water. By changing the composition of the initial metal film, the loading amount of platinum nanoparticles in the photocatalyst was modulated, and the effect of the platinum loading amount on its photoelectrochemical performance was systematically discussed through the measurement of the catalytic efficiency for water splitting. The unique micro/nanostructure generated by this hydrothermal method enabled the ZnO/Pt composite photocatalyst in this study to exhibit high catalytic activity, even at microgram levels. Its water-splitting performance was enhanced with an increasing platinum nanoparticle loading amount. The photocurrent density reached a maximum of about 1.3 times the pure zinc oxide water splitting efficiency when the amount of substance fraction of platinum nanoparticles was 5.6%. This study prepared a high active composite photoelectrochemical catalyst and provided a simple and environmentally friendly method for preparing oxide semiconductor noble metal composite catalysts.