Modulation of Pt species on oxygen vacancies enriched TiO2 via UV illumination for photocatalytic performance optimization

Abstract Due to expense and rarity of Pt element, optimization of Pt would be of importance for developing highly active Pt/TiO2 catalysts with low Pt loading dosage. In this study, the Pt nanoparticles, located on the surface of oxygen vacancies enriched TiO2 (V-TiO2), are redispersed through a facile pretreatment under UV illumination with the contribution of surface oxygen vacancies. Such process subsequently leads to the optimization of surface active species (Pt0, PtOads, and Oads−) on Pt/V-TiO2, which promotes the photocatalytic performance of CO oxidation. With an appropriate Pt dispersion and an optimized proportion of active Pt species, Pt/V-TiO2 after 2.0 h UV illumination pretreatment (Pt/V-TiO2-2) shows the best photocatalytic performance. Pt/V-TiO2-2 displays ca. 21-fold photocurrent response and 1.7-fold boosted photoactivity compared to Pt/V-TiO2, respectively.