Coral reef-like Pt/TiO2-ZrO2 porous composites for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production performance

Polystyrene (PS) colloidal microspheres synthesized by the self-assembly technology were used as templates, a series of Pt/TiO2-ZrO2 composites with TiO2 anatase phase and ZrO2 tetragonal phase were synthesized by sol-gel, vacuum impregnation and photoreduction based on the colloidal crystal template. The composites treated with PS microspheres as templates exhibited an overall shape similar to the natural formation of uneven grooves. Meanwhile, there were three-dimensional ordered macroporous structures on the surface of composites, showing a coral reef-like porous structure. In addition, the loading of the precious metal Pt significantly enhanced the absorption of the composite in the visible region. The plasma resonance effect and the larger work function of Pt prolonged the carrier lifetime, thus enhancing photocatalytic properties of coral reef-like porous composite Pt/TiO2-ZrO2. The photocatalytic activity of coral reef-like porous composite Pt/TiO2 -ZrO2 was higher in the experiment of multi-mode photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B, which had certain degradation of various dyes and organic pollutants. In the meanwhile, the experimental results of photocatalytic hydrogen production from water showed that the hydrogen production of coral reef-like Pt/TiO2-ZrO2 porous composites (7082.8 mu mol g(-1)) was more 600 times than that of TiO2 (11.3 mu mol g(-1)) during 8 h, indicating that the loading of noble metal Pt, the synergistic effect of TiO2 and ZrO2, and the coral reef-like porous structure of the composite enhanced the photocatalytic activity.