Urchin-like TiO2 structures decorated with lanthanide-doped Bi2S3 quantum dots to boost hydrogen photogeneration performance
Abstract
The formation of heterojunctions between wide- and narrow-bandgap photocatalysts is commonly employed to boost the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen generation. Herein, the photoactivity of urchin-like rutile particles is increased by decorating with pristine as well as Er- or Yb-doped Bi2S3 quantum dots (QDs) at varied QD loadings (1-20 wt%) and doping degrees (1-15 mol%), and the best hydrogen evolution performance is achieved at Er and Yb contents of 10 mol%. Specifically, a hydrogen productivity of 1576.7 μmol gcat-1 is achieved after 20-h irradiation for TiO2 decorated by 10 mol% Yb-doped Bi2S3 QDs. Theoretical calculations show that the introduction of defects into the Bi2S3 lattice through Er/Yb doping promotes the creation of new energy levels and facilitates the transport of photogenerated charges during photocatalysis.
- Publication:
-
Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
- Pub Date:
- September 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.118962
- Bibcode:
- 2020AppCB.27218962M
- Keywords:
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- Heterogeneous photocatalysis;
- Hydrogen generation;
- Bismuth sulfide quantum dots;
- Doped quantum dots