Accurate fabrication and orientation of electron acceptor and donor active sites for enhancing photocatalytic overall water splitting

Precisely regulating the transfer path of charge carriers and triggering active sites is a robust yet extremely challenging strategy to realize efficient photocatalysis. Herein, we engineered a photocatalyst co-decorated with Pt single atoms (Pt1) and Pt nanoparticles (PtNP) to open up the transfer path of photo-generated electrons and holes, which allowed for the accurate fabrication and orientation of electron acceptor and donor active sites on different supports, such as La-doped SrTiO3 (La-STO), TiO2, g-C3N4 and MIL-125. In the case of La-STO, Pt1/PtNP/La-STO displayed roughly 16 and 26 times higher overall water-splitting activity than Pt1/La-STO and PtNP/La-STO. The experimental and theoretical analyses reveal that the enhancement of overall water-splitting performance occurs because of the co-decoration of electron acceptor (Pt1) and donor (PtNP) active sites on La-STO. Promisingly, this work demonstrates a novel method for accurately controlling active sites to obtain highly efficient photocatalysts.