Modulating Pt Interaction in Au@Pt Nanoparticle/WO3 Photocatalysts for Enhanced Production of Peroxodisulphate

Production of peroxodisulphate (S2O82–) on powdered photocatalysts is a promising way to obtain high-value-added chemicals using solar energy; however, it is still suffering from low efficiency. In the present work, we fabricated bimetallic Au core and Pt shell nanoparticle-loaded WO3 (Au@Pt/WO3) photocatalyst for enhanced production of S2O82–, which is 1.7 times that of Pt nanoparticle-loaded WO3 (Pt/WO3), and was reported to be the best catalyst for S2O82– production. A further study demonstrated that the electronic interaction of Pt was successfully modulated by the core–shell nanoparticle architecture, and the core–shell nanoparticle structure between Au and Pt improved the formation of the surface chemical state of Pt to be metallic Pt, proposed as the active site for oxygen reduction. Besides, the core–shell nanoparticle structure also exposed a large amount of Pt on the surface of the substrate. As a result, Au@Pt/WO3 showed significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity of S2O82– with a quantum efficiency of 5.2% at 420 nm, whereas Pt–Au bimetallic alloy nanoparticle-loaded WO3 with a large amount of surface PtOx and exposed both Au and Pt on the surface showed very low activity. This work provides insights into the bimetallic Pt nanoparticle-loaded WO3 for enhanced photocatalytic activity.