Abstract
The supported (Rh2-yCryO3)/GaN photocatalyst was examined as a model nitride photocatalyst system to assist in the development of fundamental structure-photoactivity relationships for UV activated water splitting. Surface characterization of the outermost surface layers by high-sensitivity low energy ion scattering (HS-LEIS) and high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HR-XPS) revealed that the GaN support consists of a GaOx outermost surface layer on a thin film of GaOxNy. HR-XPS demonstrates that the supported (Rh 2-yCryO3) mixed oxide nanoparticles (NPs) consist of Cr3+ and Rh3+ cations that are surface enriched for (Rh2-yCryO3)/GaN. Raman and UV-vis spectroscopy show that the bulk molecular and electronic structures, respectively, of the GaN support are not perturbed by the deposition of the (Rh2-yCryO3) NPs. The function of the GaN bulk lattice is to generate photoexcited electrons/holes, with the electrons harnessed by the surface Rh3+ sites for evolution of H2 and the holes trapped at the Ga oxide/oxynitride surface sites for splitting of water and evolving O2.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 3719-3724 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 21 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 7 2013 |
Keywords
- GaN
- H
- HO splitting
- LEIS
- O
- PL
- Raman
- RhCrO
- UV-vis
- XPS
- photocatalysis
- photocatalyst
- spectroscopy