High-loading single-atom Pt/TiO2 mesoporous catalysts for superior photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol

Photocatalysis utilized solar energy with metal oxide semiconductors has been considered as one of the attractive green routes for organics' conversion. The construction of high-density co-catalytic sites is essential for the surface reaction kinetics. In this work, a high-efficiency mesoporous TiO2 decorated with single atomic Pt loading of 1 at% (2.1 wt%) had been successfully achieved. The high specific surface area of mesopomus TiO2 affords adequate physical surface for the resident of atomic Pt, thus stabilizing a high areal density of single-atom reaction sites. The optimized single-atom Pt/TiO2 revealed a performance of 4.1 mmol/h/g(cat) for photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol under visible light irradiation that is 3.8 folds than that of Pt-modified commercial TiO2 photocatalysts. The reactivity will further enhance after the introduction of plasmonic Au nanoparticles and the finally sample (1 at% Pt-0.075 at% Au)/TiO2-MP exhibited salient activity (4.5 mmol/h/g eat ) and stability. This work paves a potential way to boost the performance of metal oxide semiconductors for green photocatalytic conversion of organics.