Ionic liquids produce heteroatom-doped Pt/TiO₂ nanocrystals for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

It is of great importance to develop facile strategies to synthesize catalysts with desirable compositions and structures for high-performance photocatalytic hydrogen generation. In this work, we put forward an ionic liquid assisted one-pot route for the synthesis of heteroatom-doped Pt/TiO₂ composite material. This route is simple, environmentally benign and adjustable owing to the designable properties of ionic liquids. The as-synthesized Pt/TiO₂ nanocrystals exhibit high activity and stability for the photocatalytic hydrogen generation under simulated solar irradiation. This method can be easily applied to the synthesis of various kinds of metal/TiO₂ composites doped with desirable heteroatoms (e.g., F, Cl, Br, etc).