Photocatalytic Water Oxidation with a CoFe Prussian Blue Analogue-Layered Niobate Hybrid Material

A semiconductor-catalyst hybrid assembly for photocatalytic water oxidation was obtained by preparing CoFe Prussian blue particles on Dion-Jacobson type niobate nanosheets, which produces a p-n junction, as evidenced by the Mott- Schottky plot. The hybrid material with a precious-metal-free cocatalyst exhibits an enhanced photocatalytic activity (89.5 mu mol g(-1) h(-1)) in the presence of S2O82- as the electron scavenger. XPS, infrared, XRD, TEM, and SEM studies performed on both pristine and postcatalytic samples indicate that the hybrid assembly exhibits a proper band energy alignment for the photocatalytic water oxidation process and it is stable throughout a 12 h photocatalytic study.