One-pot synthesis of amorphous/crystalline SnO2/BaSO4 composite sensitized with Eosin Y for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production

For the dye-sensitized heterogeneous photocatalytic system, the main challenge is the design of support materials with low cost, good adsorption capacity and facilitated electron transfer ability. Herein, an amorphous/crystalline SnO2/BaSO4 composite with unique leaf-like morphology composed of four protruded corners was developed by an one-pot coprecipitation method at room temperature. The low-cost crystalline BaSO4 acted as the support material for Eosin Y (EY) sensitization and did not inhibit the light absorption of EY, and the amorphous SnO2 uniformly coated on BaSO4 provided good conductivity to benefit for the transport of photogenerated carriers. Therefore, under visible-light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm), the EY-sensitized SnO2/BaSO4 showed excellent photocatalytic activity with H2-production rate of 263 μmol h-1, which was 7.5 times that of EY or EY-sensitized bare BaSO4, and the apparent quantum yield achieved to be 11.2% at 500 nm.