Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over monolayer HTi2NbO7 nanosheets with highly dispersed Pt nanoclusters

Photocatalytic hydrogen production, as an ideal strategy for solar-to-fuel conversion, remains the great challenges in designing the highly efficient photocatalytic systems. Herein, the monolayer HTi2NbO7 nanosheets with the thickness of 1.65 nm are developed as photocatalysts coupled with N nanoparticles for hydrogen production from water. The N nanocluster/HTi2NbO7 nanosheets prepared via an in situ process showed the better photocatalytic activity for H-2 evolution than that obtained by a chemical reduction. The higher dispersity and more closely interface contact between the nanosheets and N nanoclusters would promote the transfer of the photogenerated carriers. A synergistic photocatalytic mechanism for monolayer nanosheets and N nanocluster would be proposed to elucidate the high efficient hydrogen production.