Enhancing photocatalytic activity of C60-based photocatalyst for visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution with the coupling of Fe3O4 microbead to modulate charge separation efficiency.

Interfacial charge separation is an essential issue to restrict catalytic activity of photocatalysts. In this work, we report a promising and easy-to-handle strategy to modulate the activity of a C 60 -based photocatalyst (C 60 @Pt) for visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with the coupling of magnetic substance that had weak ferromagnetism (Fe 3 O 4 microbeads as an instance). It is found that Fe 3 O 4 microbeads played a pivotal role in boosting photocatalytic activity and apparent quantum efficiency of C 60 @Pt for visible-light-driven HER, as the weak local magnetic field it induced around C 60 @Pt contributed to facilitating the separation of photo electrons from electron-donor in reaction system. This work shows a promising strategy to enhance photocatalytic activity of C 60 -based photocatalyst (C 60 @Pt as an instance) for visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution by coupling it with magnetic substance Fe 3 O 4 microbeads that had weak ferromagnetism. It is found that the Fe 3 O 4 microbeads played a pivotal role in enhancing photocatalytic activity of C 60 @Pt as the weak local magnetic field it induced around C 60 @Pt contributed to promoting the separation of photo-excited electrons from electron-donor. This strategy effectively boosted hydrogen evolution rate and AQE of C 60 @Pt. [Display omitted] • Modulate activity of C 60 -based photocatalyst via connecting weak magnetic substance. • Promote separation of photo-excited electrons by inducing weak local magnetic field. • AQE was boosted up to 2.5 times with the coupling of weak magnetic substance. • Hydrogen evolution improved up to 3.7 times when connecting weak magnetic substance. • Remarkably improve HER photocatalytic robustness of C 60 -based photocatalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]