Surfactant Assistance in Improvement of Photocatalytic
Hydrogen Production with the Porphyrin Noncovalently Functionalized
Graphene Nanocomposite
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Abstract
In
this paper, a 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-(hydroxyl)phenyl) porphyrin (TPPH)
noncovalently functionalized reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanohybrid
has been facilely synthesized by immobilizing TPPH on RGO nanosheets.
This nanohybrid was characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM),
transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and UV–vis spectra,
which demonstrated that the TPPH molecule was attached on the surface
of the graphene nanosheet. The results of fluorescence quenching and
photocurrent enhancement of TPPH–RGO exhibit that the fast
electrons transfer from photoexcited TPPH molecules to RGO sheets.
Compared with bare TPPH or RGO functional Pt nanoparticles, the TPPH-sensitized
RGO loaded with Pt nanoparticles shows remarkable enhanced photocatalytic
activity under UV–vis light irradiation. The superior electron-accepting
and electron-transporting properties of graphene greatly accelerate
the electron transfer from excited TPPH to Pt catalysts, which promote
the photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution. More importantly,
with the assistance of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant,
the catalytic activity and stability is further improved owing to
aggregation prevention of TPPH–RGO nanocomposites. Our investigation
might not only initiate new opportunities for the development of a
facile synthesis yet highly efficient photoinduced hydrogen evolution
system (composed of organic dye functionalized graphene) but also
pave a new avenue for constructing graphene-based matericals with
enhanced catalytic performance and stability under surfactant assistance