title: "Suspended" Pt nanoparticles over TiO₂ nanotubes for enhanced photocatalytic H₂ evolution.
abstract: In the present work we introduce a technique to form a photocatalyst based on Pt nanoparticles suspended over the mouth of anodic TiO2 nanotubes. These structures are obtained by decorating the top end of highly ordered TiO2 nanotubes with a web of TiO2 nanofibrils, followed by sputter deposition of a minimum amount of Pt. A subsequent thermal dewetting step forms 3-6 nm-sized Pt nanoparticles along the nanofibrils. These structures, when compared to conventional Pt decoration techniques of TiO2 nanotubes, show strongly enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering WW4-LKO, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstrasse 7, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany. schmuki@ww.uni-erlangen.de.
authors.forename: Nhat Truong
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: JeongEun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altomare
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schmuki