Defect-anchored single-atom-layer Pt clusters on TiO2−x/Ti for efficient hydrogen evolution via photothermal reforming plastics

Hydrogen generation from plastics waste is a promising strategy to solve the plastic pollution crisis. Making full use of infrared energy of solar spectrum is an important subject for efficient solar photocatalysis. Herein, single-atom-layer Pt (SAL-Pt) clusters anchored on TiO2−x/Ti was used as photothermal catalyst to generate hydrogen from plastic in liquid conditions. The confinement effect of laser-regulated oxygen vacancies in TiO2−x/Ti plays an important role in anchoring SAL-Pt under mildly temperature and pressure condition. The obtained Pt/TiO2−x/Ti possesses excellent photothermal catalytic hydrogen evolution performance from reforming plastic waste under infrared light (273.12 μmol cm−2 h−1). The enhanced photothermal activity of Pt/TiO2−x/Ti is due to enhanced infrared light absorption via plasmonic effect and hot electron aggregation on SAL-Pt from TiO2−x/Ti. The practical applicability is further verified by photothermal catalytic reforming plastics to H2 under ambient sunlight irradiation, which possesses high performance (25.5 μmol cm−2 h−1) and stability (in consecutive week).