Noble Metals (Ag, Au, Pd and Pt) Decorated ZnBiVO4 Nanostructures for Enhanced Photocatalytic H2 Production

Abstract

The ZnBiVO4 semiconductor have been used for photocatalytic hydrogen production from hydrogen sulfide, however it was not utilized as a photocatalyst to produce hydrogen from alcohols. Here, we describe the synthesis of nanosized ZnBiVO4 semiconductor by using non-conventional microwave hydrothermal method and the synthesized material was utilized for photocatalytic H2 production under visible light irradiation. Deposition of noble metals (Ag, Au, Pd, and Pt) on the surface of ZnBiVO4 resulted a significant higher photocatalytic H2 production compared to parent semiconductor under optimized reaction conditions. This effect is higher in case of Pt decorated samples that again shows a superior photocatalytic H2 production than other noble metal loaded ZnBiVO4 nanostructures. A thorough characterization of synthesized materials was performed using elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, DR UV-vis, XPS, SEM, CO-chemisorption, and N2 physisorption measurements. The obtained characterization results indicated the role of Pt to decrease the band gap energy, increasing electron storage and delayed electron-hole recombination due to high interaction between Pt and ZnBiVO4.