Highly efficient Pt/NaNbO3 nanowire photocatalyst: Its morphology effect and application in water purification and H2 production

•Pt nanoparticles (NPs) supported on wire- and cube- like NaNbO3.•A facile hydrothermal route combined with in situ photodeposition method.•Nanowire exhibited 25 times higher H2 production than nanocube.•Super stability up to 15 h in the process of photocatalytic H2 production.•Better distribution of Pt NPs and much stronger interaction of Pt and NaNbO3 nanowire.

Pt nanoparticles (NPs) supported on wire- and cube- like NaNbO3 were successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal route combined with in situ photodeposition method. Photocatalytic performances towards photocatalytic H2 production and organic-pollutant degradation of NaNbO3 with morphology of nanowire and nanocube, with or without support of Pt NPs were comparatively investigated. In addition, special attention was paid to investigate the influence of the morphologies on the photocatalytic performance of Pt/NaNbO3 systems. It was found that, by incorporation of Pt NPs, Pt/NaNbO3 systems show much higher activity than their counterparts. Moreover, by contrast with Pt/NaNbO3 nanocube, the Pt NPs tend to be better uniformly dispersed on NaNbO3 nanowire while prefer to agglomerate on NaNbO3 nanocube, resulting in more direct contact between Pt NPs and NaNbO3 nanowire. Meanwhile, it was found that the stronger interaction of Pt NPs and NaNbO3 nanowire, confirmed by XRD, Raman spectroscopy and XPS, significantly enhanced the electron transfer between NaNbO3 nanowire and Pt NPs, and hence further increased the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs. Thus, a remarkably more enhanced photocatalytic activity of Pt/NaNbO3 nanowire than other materials has been realized, and this catalyst presented super stability as well. A deep insight into the underlying of the photocatalytic reaction mechanism was also proposed.

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