Defect Engineering of Ultrasmall TiO2Nanoparticles Enables Highly Efficient Photocatalysts for Solar H2Production from Woody Biomass

The conversion of woody biomass to H2through photocatalysis provides a sustainable strategy to generate renewable hydrogen fuel but was limited by the slow decomposition rate of woody biomass. Here, we fabricate ultrasmall TiO2nanoparticles with tunable concentration of oxygen vacancy defects (VO-TiO2) as highly efficient photocatalysts for photocatalytic conversion of woody biomass to H2. Owing to the positive role of oxygen vacancy in reducing energy barrier for the generation of •OH which was the critical species to oxidize woody biomass, the obtained VO-TiO2achieves rapid photocatalytic conversion of α-cellulose and poplar wood chip to H2in the presence of Pt nanoclusters as the cocatalyst. As expected, the highest H2generation rate in α-cellulose and poplar wood chip system respectively achieve 1146 and 59 μmol h–1g–1, and an apparent quantum yield of 4.89% at 380 nm was obtained in α-cellulose aqueous solution.