Single-Atom Catalysts on C3N4: Minimizing Single Atom Pt Loading for Maximized Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Efficiency

Lazaar N, Wu S, Qin S, Hamrouni A, Bikash Sarma B, Doronkin DE, Denisov N, Lachheb H, Schmuki P (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

DOI: 10.1002/anie.202416453

Abstract

The use of metal single atoms (SAs) as co-catalysts on semiconductors has emerged as a promising technology to enhance their photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. In this study, we describe the deposition of very low amounts of Pt SAs (<0.1 at %) on exfoliated graphitic carbon nitride (C3N4) by a direct Pt−deposition approach from highly dilute chloroplatinic acid precursors. We find that − using this technique−a remarkably low loading of highly dispersed Pt SAs (0.03 wt %) on C3N4 is sufficient to achieve a drastic decrease in the overall charge transfer resistance and a maximized photocatalytic efficiency. The resulting low-loaded Pt SAs/C3N4 provides a H2 production rate of 1.66 m mol/h/mg Pt, with a remarkable stability against agglomeration; even during prolonged photocatalytic reactions no sign of light-induced Pt agglomerations can be observed. We ascribe the high performance and stability to the site-selective, stable coordination of Pt within the C3N4 structure. Notably the H2 production rate of the low-loaded Pt SAs surpasses the activity of Pt SAs deposited by other techniques or nanoparticles at comparable or even higher loading – the optimized Pt SAs decorated C3N4 show ≈5.9 times higher rate than Pt NP decorated C3N4.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

University of Gabès / Université de Gabès / جامعة قابس Tunisia (TN) Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse (INP) France (FR) Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Lazaar, N., Wu, S., Qin, S., Hamrouni, A., Bikash Sarma, B., Doronkin, D.E.,... Schmuki, P. (2025). Single-Atom Catalysts on C3N4: Minimizing Single Atom Pt Loading for Maximized Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Efficiency. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202416453

MLA:

Lazaar, Nawres, et al. "Single-Atom Catalysts on C3N4: Minimizing Single Atom Pt Loading for Maximized Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Efficiency." Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2025).

BibTeX: Download