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LSPR-excited obvious hydrogen yield enhancement for TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+@W18O49 quasi-core/shell heterostructure

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Abstract

A favorable process that utilizing upconversion (UC) luminescence to enhance the photocatalytic property for H2 evolution is designed. In this work, TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+ nanosheets (NTs) are synthesized through facile solvothermal method. With a 980-nm laser excitation, the UC luminescence bands at about 522, 546 and 625 nm separately corresponding to the energy-level transitions of 2H11/2, 4S3/2 → 4I15/2 and 4F9/2 → 4I15/2 are detected in TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+ NTs, which coincide with the absorption band of W18O49 nano-urchins (NUs). It is worth noting that a quasi-core/shell heterostructure (QCSH) of TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+@W18O49 is designed and prepared as a photocatalyst on account of localized surface plasmon resonance action of W18O49. Photocurrent tests show TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+@W18O49 QCSHs possess outstanding charge separation ability comparing with W18O49 NUs and TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+ NTs under irradiation of 980-nm laser. Therefore, we probe photocatalytic property of H2 evolution from ammonia borane (BH3NH3). The H2 yield of TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+@W18O49 QCSHs suggests 2.5 times, 8.9 times and 26.6 times improved than that of W18O49 NUs, TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+ NTs and BH3NH3 separately. Furthermore, the focused natural sunlight is employed as excitation source, TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+@W18O49 QCSHs exhibits 1.7 times, 2.7 times and 157 times higher H2 production than that of W18O49 NUs, TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+ NTs and BH3NH3, which offers a novel method for photocatalytic H2 production and solving energy issues.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Special Support Program for High-level Personnel Recruitment, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11474046, 61775024), Program for Liaoning Innovation Team in University (LT2016011), Science and Reference Technique Foundation of Dalian (Grant Nos. 2017RD12, 2015J12JH201), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. DC201502080203).

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Author notes

  1. Xuesong Xu and Guoqiang Fang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, 116026, China

    Xuesong Xu, Guoqiang Fang & Jingyu Shang

  2. Key Laboratory of Photosensitive Materials and Device of Liaoning Province, Key Laboratory of New Energy and Rare Earth Resource Utilization of State Ethnic Affairs Commission, School of Physics and Materials Engineering, Dalian Minzu University, Dalian, 116600, China

    Jingyu Shang, Kuichao Liu, Yanan Bao, Yang Yang, Yang Liu & Bin Dong

Authors
  1. Xuesong Xu
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  2. Guoqiang Fang
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  3. Jingyu Shang
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  4. Kuichao Liu
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  5. Yanan Bao
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  6. Yang Yang
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  7. Yang Liu
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  8. Bin Dong
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Correspondence to Jingyu Shang or Bin Dong.

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Xu, X., Fang, G., Shang, J. et al. LSPR-excited obvious hydrogen yield enhancement for TiO2:Er3+, Yb3+@W18O49 quasi-core/shell heterostructure. J Mater Sci 55, 2958–2966 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-04168-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-04168-2

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