This study investigates the synthesis and catalytic performance of MA₃Sb₂I₉, a perovskite-like material, in the presence of platinum (Pt) as a co-catalyst, for hydrogen production. The material showed an enhanced hydrogen evolution performance up to 883 μmol g⁻¹ upon addition of Pt nanoparticles due to generation of additional Fermi levels in the catalytic system, and demonstrated good stability over four consecutive catalytic cycles.

Abstract

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 MA₃Sb₂I₉ by a hydrothermal method and the photocatalytic performance of the material in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The synthesized material MA₃Sb₂I₉ 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. MA₃Sb₂I₉ 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 MA₃Sb₂I₉ enhanced up to 883 μmol g⁻¹ upon addition of 3 mg of Pt nanoparticles due to generation of additional Fermi levels in the catalytic system. The MA₃Sb₂I₉ material demonstrated good stability showing no evident reduction in catalytic activity after four consecutive cycles.