F-doped CeO2 supported Co-based nanoparticles for enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution from ammonia borane

Doping as a common mean to generate defects to boost the catalytic performance of metal oxide semiconductor-based materials has aroused great interest. However, doping usually requires high temperatures and is time consuming. Herein, we report a facile strategy for the preparation of F doped CeO 2 (F–CeO 2 ) with assistance of the electrostatic attraction between F − and CeO 2 with oxygen vacancies at room temperature , then F–CeO 2 acts as superior support of metal Co nanoparticles (NPs) for efficient hydrolysis of NH 3 BH 3 under light irradiation . The activity of Co/F–CeO 2 is significantly enhanced and Co/F–CeO 2 -0.6 exhibited highest catalytic activity with TOF value 92.8 min −1 which increases 47% compared with Co/CeO 2 . Experimental and characterization results show the enhanced performance attributes to high efficiency photogenerated carrier separation and boosting adsorption capacity of H 2 O and NH 3 BH 3 over Co/F–CeO 2 due to F doped into CeO 2 crystallites . Furthermore, theory calculations further confirm that the band gap of F–CeO 2 becomes smaller and F–CeO 2 is more favorable the adsorption for H 2 O and NH 3 BH 3 than pure CeO 2 . This work offers a facile and time efficiency strategy to realize controllable element doped in metal oxide under ambient, and gives deep insights into the structure–activity relationship of catalyst between defect engineering and photocatalytic performance.