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Subnanocluster (SNC) cocatalysts are considered to be promising cocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to their rich surface-active sites and high atom utilization efficiency. Herein, a reductant-mediated in situ growth of the atomic clusters procedure is developed to synthesize SNC-Cu serving as advanced cocatalysts on TiO2 nanoparticles for HER. The optimized SNC-Cu/TiO2 catalyst, with 1.8 wt % metal mass loading, exhibits a remarkable hydrogen evolution rate of 6832 μmol g-1 h-1, which is ca. 25-fold that of bare TiO2 (273 μmol g-1 h-1 and comparable to that of 1 wt % Pt-modified TiO2 (7754 μmol g-1 h-1). Meanwhile, decent photostability and recyclability are also certified via a 20 h durability test. Comprehensive electron microscopy and spectroscopy characterizations unveil that the outstanding performance of SNC-Cu/TiO2 can be attributed to accelerated charge separation/transfer and suppressed photoinduced electron-hole recombination. Furthermore, in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and first-principle calculations reveal that the electron-localized SNC-Cu, with its abundant surface sites, facilitates *H adsorption and desorption, thus enhancing the HER activity significantly. This work highlights the promising potential of constructing noble-metal-free SNCs in semiconductors for photocatalytic HER. © 2024 American Chemical Society.
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ACS Applied Nano Materials
ISSN: 2574-0970
Year: 2024
Issue: 10
Volume: 7
Page: 11680-11689
5 . 9 0 0
JCR@2022
Cited Count:
SCOPUS Cited Count: 4
ESI Highly Cited Papers on the List: 0 Unfold All
WanFang Cited Count:
Chinese Cited Count:
30 Days PV: 1
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