Bimetallic Ratio Strategy for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Bimetallic can be more efficient than the corresponding monometallic catalysts in photocatalytic hydrogen production. The optimal bimetallic ratio is crucial to performance, and there is still little relative research on this problem. Noble metal as a bimetallic co-catalyst can improve the performance of photocatalytic hydrogen production of graphitic carbon nitride. Here, we successfully synthesized a series of carbon nitride (CN) loaded with gold and platinum by adjusting the Pt/Au ratio (total 0.5%). The results show that the optimal doping ratio of Pt-Au is 1 : 1, which displays an excellent H2 production rate of 570.8 μmol/g. This is 32 times higher than CN. And higher than the H2 production rate of 0.5% Pt/CN and 0.5% Au/CN, which is 409.2 and 359 μmol/g. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of the Au and Schottky barrier between Pt and CN may be the reason for enhanced Au–Pt/CN photocatalytic performances.