Metallic Pt and PtOx dual-cocatalyst-loaded WO3 for photocatalytic production of peroxydisulfate and hydrogen peroxide

Photocatalytic production of green oxidation reagents as an economical and environmental-friendly process is a promising strategy to replace the traditional production processes. In the present study, a series of 1.0 wt% Pt/WO3 photocatalysts with different surface chemical states of Pt were successfully fabricated. The different surface metallic Pt (Pt0) and oxidized Pt (PtOx) ratios on WO3 showed significant effects on the photocatalytic activities for strong oxidants of peroxydisulfate ( $$ {\text{S}} ₂ {\text{O}}₈^{2 -} $$ ) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) formations. It is proposed that surface Pt0 and PtOx functioned as reduction site for O2 reduction to H2O and oxidation site for H2O oxidation to H2O2, respectively, during the photocatalytic process. As a result, a higher surface composition of Pt0 prepared using photodeposition (PD) method led to the formation of higher amount of $$ {\text{S}} ₂ {\text{O}}₈^{2 -} $$ . On the other hand, PtOx-loaded WO3 using impregnation (IM) method showed significant formations of $$ {\text{S}} ₂ {\text{O}}₈^{2 -} $$ and H2O2 simultaneously. This work provided a new idea for the design of noble metal Pt-supported WO3 for efficiently photocatalytic generation of $$ {\text{S}} ₂ {\text{O}}₈^{2 -} $$ and H2O2.