Photothermal synergistic overall water splitting via non-noble nickel cocatalyst on SrTiO3

The synergistic coupling of optical and thermal effects for the comprehensive utilization of solar energy has garnered increasing attention in recent research. In this work, the synergistic coupling of solar photo and thermal effects was realized using a non-noble metal Ni cocatalyst loaded with Mg and Al codoped SrTiO 3 . In the photothermal synergistic decomposition of pure water, the efficiencies of H 2 and O 2 reached 1.011 mmol·g −1 ·h −1 and 0.497 mmol·g −1 ·h −1 , respectively. The hydrogen yield was almost 2.7 times higher than that of pure photocatalysis . It was found that the introduction of NiOOH significantly enhanced the separation and migration of photogenerated carriers , along with the significant thermal effect. A series of variable temperature characterizations confirm that the thermal effect in sunlight can enhance light absorption and reduce the carrier transport impedance of material, which significantly improves carrier utilization and further promotes hydrogen generation . This study provides an effective idea for the design of solar non-noble metal catalysts for hydrogen production by utilizing the photothermal synergy strategy. • The non-noble nickel cocatalyst loading strategy enhances the solar photo and thermal conversion. • Photothermal synergy increases the hydrogen yield of SrTiO 3 by 2.7 times. • Proposed mechanism of photothermal synergistic water splitting reaction.