Spontaneous Dewetting of Au‐Thin Layers on Oxide‐ and Fluorine‐Terminated Single Crystalline Anatase and Efficient Use in Photocatalytic H₂ Production

Abstract

In the present work, the spontaneous dewetting of thin Au layers on single crystalline anatase nanosheets into narrow‐disperse Au nanoparticles is investigated. Patterns of the Au particles can be formed on the main facets of anatase that provide a high co‐catalytic activity for photocatalytic generation of H2. Dewetting is distinctly influenced by the respective facets (001) and (101), the deposit thickness, and secondary thermal dewetting, but most strongly by the surface termination of the nanosheets. Fluoride termination not only leads to an enhanced Au‐phobic behavior but strongly affects the co‐catalytic activity for photocatalytic generation of H2. While fluoride termination with or without Au decoration is detrimental for hole transfer, the interplay of the Au co‐catalyst and surface fluoride yields highly beneficial effect for electron transfer. This results in a three‐times higher photocatalytic H2 production for the F‐terminated surface. The findings suggest that dewetting of Au on surface fluorinated TiO2 is an effective way to modulate surface dewetting and achieve a strongly enhanced photocatalytic activity.