Promotion effect of strong metal-support interaction to thermocatalytic, photocatalytic, and photothermocatalytic oxidation of toluene on Pt/SrTiO3.

The importance of strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) in reducible oxide supported noble metal nanoparticles (NP) has been recognized in many thermocatalytic systems but rarely explored in photocatalytic and photothermocatalytic systems. Herein, the promotion effect of SMSI in strontium titanate (STO) supported Pt NP for thermocatalytic, photocatalytic, and photothermocatalytic oxidation (TCO, PCO and PTO) of toluene is reported. SMSI in Pt/STO is achieved through calcination in air (Air-Pt/STO), reduction in H2 atmosphere (H2-Pt/STO), wet reduction in HCHO solution (HCHO-Pt/STO) or NaBH4 solutions (NaBH4-Pt/STO), resulting in the formation of chemisorbed oxygen and negatively charged Pt NP and promoting oxygen activation in TCO and surface plasmon resonance effects of Pt NP in visible-light-induced PCO and PTO. Both TCO and PCO activities go along with the degree of SMSI as Air-Pt/STO > H2-Pt/STO > HCHO-Pt/STO > NaBH4-Pt/STO. Under both visible-light illuminating and thermal environment at 150 °C, the PTO toluene degradation efficiency of Air-Pt/STO is further improved with a factor of 32 times or 9 times than the single PCO or TCO process. The unique synergistic photothermocatalytic oxidation performance of Air-Pt/STO is ascribed to the function of Pt NP and the effect of SMSI. Our findings provide a facile way to design multifunctional supported noble metal catalysts for efficient VOCs degradation process.