Platinum in the Right Place: An “Electronic Highway” to More Efficient Photocatalysis
Researchers from the Laboratory for Catalysts at the National Institute of Chemistry, in collaboration with colleagues from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Maribor and TU Wien, have shown that the performance of advanced photocatalysts depends not only on the materials they are made of, but also on how those materials are arranged. Their study, published in Materials Today Catalysis, demonstrates that the precise location of platinum nanoparticles plays a decisive role in determining the efficiency of photocatalysts.
Photocatalysts use light to drive chemical reactions, including the removal of organic pollutants from water. One of the biggest challenges is that part of the absorbed light energy is lost before it can be used in the reaction. Researchers are therefore developing materials that enable more efficient charge transfer, allowing them to make better use of light energy.
In this study, the researchers investigated a heterojunction composed of graphitic carbon nitride and titanium dioxide. They found that simply adding platinum is not enough to improve performance. What matters is where the platinum nanoparticles are located within the material. When the nanoparticles were predominantly positioned on the titanium dioxide, they enabled faster and more efficient electron transfer, creating what the researchers describe as an "electron highway." In contrast, when the platinum nanoparticles were mainly located on the graphitic carbon nitride, charge transfer was less efficient.
These differences were clearly reflected in tests that evaluated the photocatalytic removal of bisphenol A (BPA), a common organic water pollutant, under visible light. Photocatalysts with the optimal distribution of platinum nanoparticles were significantly more effective at degrading BPA.
The findings show that developing more efficient photocatalysts requires not only selecting the right materials but also carefully controlling how they are arranged. This approach opens new possibilities for designing advanced materials for water purification and other environmental and energy-related applications.
Article:
Roškarič, M.; Žerjav, G.; Finšgar, M.; Maqbool, Q.; Stöger-Pollach, M.; Rupprechter, G.; Pintar, A. Site-selective Pt localisation controls interfacial charge transfer in g-C3N4/TiO2 heterojunctions. Materials Today Catalysis, 2026, 10014.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2026.100149
Contact: Gregor Žerjav (gregor.zerjav@ki.si)