Au/CeO(2) samples with various Au contents were prepared by the multistep (MS) photodeposition method. Their properties including Au particle size, particle dispersion, and photoabsorption were investigated and compared with properties of samples prepared by using the single-step (SS) photodeposition method. The MS- and SS-Au/CeO(2) samples were used for selective oxidation of benzyl alcohols to corresponding benzaldehydes in aqueous suspensions under irradiation by visible light from a green LED, and the correlations between reaction rates and physical properties of the MS- and SS-Au/CeO(2) samples were investigated. Difference in the two photodeposition methods was reflected in the average size and number of Au nanoparticles, for example, 92 nm and 1.3 × 10(12) (g-Au/CeO(2))(-1) for MS photodeposition and 59 nm and 4.8 × 10(12) (g-Au/CeO(2))(-1) for SS photodeposition in the case of 1.0 wt % Au samples. Fixation of larger Au particles resulted in strong photoabsorption of the MS-Au/CeO(2) samples at around 550 nm due to the surface plasmon resonance, and the Kubelka-Munk function of the photoabsorption linearly increased with increase in Au content up to 2.0 wt %, in contrast to the photoabsorption of SS-Au/CeO(2) samples, which was weak and was saturated even at around 0.5 wt %. Due to the strong photoabsorption, the MS-Au/CeO(2) samples exhibited reaction rates approximately twice larger than those of SS-Au/CeO(2) samples with the same Au contents, and apparent quantum efficiency of MS-Au/CeO(2) reached 4.9% at 0.4 mW cm(-2). Linear correlations were observed between reaction rates (r) and surface area of Au nanoparticles (S) in both MS- and SS-Au/CeO(2) samples, though the two slopes of r versus S plots were different, suggesting that oxidation of benzyl alcohol occurred on the Au surface and that S was one of the important factors controlling the reaction rate. Photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol having an amino group revealed that the Au/CeO(2) photocatalyst exhibited high chemoselectivity toward the hydroxyl group of alcohol, i.e, the Au/CeO(2) photocatalyst almost quantitatively converted aminobenzyl alcohol to aminobenzaldehyde with 99% yield.

Titanium(IV) oxide (TiO 2 ) having both small platinum (Pt) nanoparticles and large gold (Au) particles without alloying and nanoparticle coagulation was successfully prepared by the combination of traditional photodeposition of Pt in the presence of a hole scavenger (PH) and subsequent Au colloid photodeposition in the presence of a hole scavenger (CPH) onto TiO 2 −Pt. Au particles having an average diameter of 13 nm were fixed on both TiO 2 and TiO 2 − Pt samples without change in the original size of Au particles, and the Au/TiO 2 and Au/TiO 2 −Pt samples exhibited strong photoabsorption around 550 nm as a result of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Au to which the large size of Au particles was attributed. Bare TiO 2 , TiO 2 − Pt, Au/TiO 2 , and Au/TiO 2 −Pt samples were used for photoinduced hydrogen (H 2 ) formation from 2-propanol in aqueous solutions under irradiation of visible light. The first two samples yielded no H 2 because of no response to visible light, but the latter two formed H 2 , indicating that SPR photoabsorption of supported Au particles contributed to the H 2 evolution under irradiation of visible light. The H 2 formation rate of the Au/TiO 2 −Pt sample was ∼7-times larger than that of the Pt-free Au/TiO 2 sample, indicating that Pt nanoparticles loaded on TiO 2 acted effectively as a cocatalyst, that is, as reduction sites for H 2 evolution. The combination of the PH and CPH methods was effective for preparation of Au/TiO 2 having other metal cocatalysts (M) including Au, that is, Au/TiO 2 −Au, and H 2 evolution rates decreased in the order of M; Pt > Pd > Ru > Rh > Au > Ag > Cu > Ir. An inverse correlation between the rate and the hydrogen overvoltage (HOV) of M, that is, it was observed that the higher the HOV, the more difficult it is to reduce protons by photogenerated electrons. Since the amounts of Au and M loaded on TiO 2 were changed independently, the effects on photoabsorption and the rate of H 2 evolution were examined. A linear correlation was observed between rate and light absorption due to SPR, suggesting that SPR photoabsorption by Au particles was one of the important factors determining the rate of the H 2 evolution.

______________________________________________________________________The molar amounts of defective sites (M d ) in several titanium(IV) oxide (TiO 2 ) powders were determined using photoinduced reaction of electron accumulation in deaerated aqueous solutions containing sacrificial hole scavengers and subsequent reduction of methylviologen to its cation radical. The measurements of pH dependence of typical anatase and rutile TiO 2 powders showed that these defective sites were of electronic energy just below the conduction band edge of TiO 2 in ranges of 0-0.35 V for anatase and 0-0.25 V for rutile. A linear relation of M d with the rate constant of electron-hole recombination determined by femtosecond pump-probe diffuse reflection spectroscopy revealed that M d could be a quantitative parameter of recombination between a 2 photoexcited electron and a positive hole. The tendency for M d to increase, but not proportionally, with increase in the specific surface area suggested that these defective sites are mainly located near the external surfaces of TiO 2 particles. A reciprocal correlation between photocatalytic activity for water oxidation in aqueous silver sulfate solution and M d revealed that the rate of recombination is one of the predominant physical properties governing the activities of TiO 2 powders in this reaction system. ______________________________________________________________________ IntroductionPolycrystalline titanium(IV) oxide (TiO 2 ) has been widely used as semiconductor photocatalysts in liquid-solid as well as in gas-liquid regimes 1-9 because of its sufficient photostability in various circumstances, nontoxicity for environments, and potent ability to induce various types of redox reactions. 10,11 It is well known that photocatalytic activity strongly depends on bulk and surface physicochemical properties of the TiO 2 powder, such as the kind of crystal structure, 12-15 surface area and particle size, [16][17][18][19][20] Experimental SectionMaterials. Several kinds of titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) powders, those from commercial sources (Degussa P-25, Merck, Ishihara CR-EL, and Hombikat UV-100), reference catalysts supplied from the Catalysis Society of Japan (JRC-TIO-1, -2, -3, and -5), and powders synthesized by the HyCOM method 6,28,29 followed by a calcination at 1073 K under O 2 (designated as HyCOM (1073)), were used. In a separate experiment to quantify the amount of accumulated electrons by another chemical reaction, a deaerated aqueous solution containing colloidal platinum particles was added to the photoirradiated suspension under Ar instead of the addition of MV 2+ . After shaking the mixture for a few minutes, the gas phase was analyzed using a gas chromatograph (GC, Shimadzu, GC-8A, equipped with an MS-5A column (GL Sciences) and a TCD detector). Measurement of the amount of accumulated electrons in photoirradiated TiOPP-DR spectroscopy. Details of PP-DR spectroscopy were reported previously 40,41 and are briefly summarized as follows. The light source consisted of a mode-lo...

Photocatalytic H2 and O2 formations under visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm) are demonstrated using Pt-Au nanopaticles for the reduction site and WO3 for the oxidation site in solid-state Pt/Au/WO3.

Nanocrystalline anatase titanium(IV) oxide (TiO 2 ) particles were synthesized by hydrothermal crystallization in organic media (HyCOM) followed by calcination at various temperatures up to 1273 K, and they were characterized by analysis of surface adsorption of the substrates, as well as by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) surface area measurements. These HyCOM TiO 2 samples were used for three kinds of photocatalytic reactions: mineralization of acetic acid (AcOH) in aerated aqueous suspensions, dehydrogenation of 2-propanol (2-PrOH) by in situ platinized powders, and silver-metal deposition from silver ions (Ag + ) in deaerated aqueous suspensions of bare TiO 2 samples. Dependence of the photocatalytic activities on calcination temperature (T c ) and on the amount of adsorbed substrates in each reaction and correlations with the physical properties of HyCOM TiO 2 were examined. In the case of mineralization of AcOH, the activitiy of each sample was almost proportional to the amount of surface-adsorbed AcOH in the dark, and the uncalcined (as-prepared) HyCOM TiO 2 showed the highest activity, which was monotonically reduced with T c , that is, with decrease in the amount of surface-adsorbed AcOH. On the other hand, in the case of silver-metal deposition, the photocatalytic activity was enhanced by calcination at higher temperature, despite the simultaneous decrease in the amount of surface-adsorbed Ag + in the dark. Overall, the effects of calcination on the photocatalytic activities for several reaction systems strongly suggested that photocatalytic activity depends on two significant factors, adsorbability and recombination probability, corresponding to the specific surface area and crystallinity, respectively, and that the balance of these two factors determines the T c dependence.