Hydrothermal Synthesis of MA3Sb2I9 for Hydrogen Production Applications

With increasing energy demands and environment concerns, the substitution of lead hybrid perovskites with antimony-based perovskite structures is an important research topic. Herein we report the synthesis of a lead-free perovskite-like material MA(3)Sb(2)I(9) by a hydrothermal method and the photocatalytic performance of the material in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The synthesized material MA(3)Sb(2)I(9) has been characterized by PXRD, SEM, EDX and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The band gap of the synthesized material was observed to be 2.28 eV. MA(3)Sb(2)I(9) demonstrated good catalytic performance for the splitting of HI using hypophosphorous acid (H3PO2) as scavenger. For enhancing the rate of hydrogen evolution, platinum nanoparticles have been used as a co-catalyst in different ratios. The hydrogen evolution performance of MMA(3)Sb(2)I(9) enhanced up to 883 mu mol g(-1) upon addition of 3 mg of Pt nanoparticles due to generation of additional Fermi levels in the catalytic system. The MA(3)Sb(2)I(9) material demonstrated good stability showing no evident reduction in catalytic activity after four consecutive cycles.