An Efficient Photocatalyst with Pt/TiO2@CdS/Co3O4 Hollow Core–Shell Nanostructure for Overall Water Splitting

Photocatalytic split water attracts tremendous research interest because of its outstanding advantages in generating clean energy. Therefore, this work reports the synthesis of Pt/TiO2@CdS/Co3O4 hollow core–shell nanocomposites using a hard template method. The resulting material was then used for photo-induced spontaneous water splitting. The rationally designed hollow core–shell structure of this material not only enhanced the light collection capacity but also improved the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers owing to its TiO2/CdS heterojunction. The presence of the Pt and Co3O4 catalysts in our novel material resulted in 63.2 and 29.7 μmol/g of H2 and O2 yields, respectively. Our work provides insights into conversion efficiency improvements during visible light-assisted catalytic water splitting.