Effects of Bi-dopant and co-catalysts upon hole surface trapping on La_(2)Ti_(2)O_(7) nanosheet photocatalysts in overall solar water splitting

Pristine and Bi-doped lanthanum titanium oxide(La_(2)Ti_(2)O_(7))nanosheets have been synthesized as photocatalysts for overall solar water splitting.The surface hole trap is a critical factor that limits the photocatalytic activity of pristine La_(2)Ti_(2)O_(7)-Deposition of cobalt phosphate(Co-Pi)and platinum(Pt)nanoparticles on La_(2)Ti_(2)O_(7) cannot remove the surface traps although they are essential for enabling the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions.It is interesting that doping bismuth(Bi)into La_(2)Ti_(2)O_(7) nanosheets has eliminated the surface traps due to surface enrichment of Bi.The Co-Pi/Bi-La_(2)Ti_(2)O_(7)/Pt nanosheets exhibit increasing photocatalytic activity toward overall water splitting with increasing the Bi-dopant level up to 5 at.%.Further increasing the Bi-dopant level leads to the formation of localized states above the valence band,leading to the lifetime reduction of photogenerated charge-carriers,and jeopardizing the photocatalytic activity.This work proposes an effective strategy to address the surface trapping and surface catalysis issues in the nanostructured metal oxide photocatalysts.