Engineering of SnO_(2)/TiO_(2) heterojunction compact interface with efficient charge transfer pathway for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Fabricating an efficient charge transfer pathway at the compact interface between two kinds of semiconductors is an important strategy for designing hydrogen production heterojunction photocatalysts.In this work,we prepared a compact,stable and oxygen vacancy-rich photocatalyst(SnO_(2)/TiO_(2) heterostructure)via a simple and reasonable in-situ synthesis method.Briefly,SnCl_(2)–2H_(2)O is hydrolyzed on the TiO_(2) precursor.After the pyrolysis process,SnO_(2) nanoparticles(5 nm)were dispersed on the surface of ultrathin TiO_(2) nanosheets uniformly.Herein,the heterojunction system can offer abundant oxygen vacancies,which can act as active sites for catalytic reactions.Meanwhile,the interfacial contact of SnO_(2)/TiO_(2) grading semiconductor oxide is uniform and tight,which can promote the separation and migration of photogenerated carriers.As shown in the experimental results,the hydrogen production rate of SnO_(2)/TiO_(2) is 16.7 mmol h^(-1)g^(-1)(4.4 times higher than that of TiO_(2)),which is owing to its good dynamical properties.This work demonstrates an efficient strategy of tight combining SnO_(2)/TiO_(2) with abundant oxygen vacancies to improve catalytic efficiency.