| Summary: | Herein, the UV light photocatalytic activity of an Au<sub>101</sub>NC-AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub>-rGO nanocomposite comprising 1 wt% rGO, 0.05 wt% Au<sub>101</sub>(PPh<sub>3</sub>)<sub>21</sub>Cl<sub>5</sub> (Au<sub>101</sub>NC), and AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub> evaluated for H<sub>2</sub> production. The synthesis of Au<sub>101</sub>NC-AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub>-rGO nanocomposite followed two distinct routes: (1) Au<sub>101</sub>NC was first mixed with AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub> followed by the addition of rGO (Au<sub>101</sub>NC-AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub>:rGO) and (2) Au<sub>101</sub>NC was first mixed with rGO followed by the addition of AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub> (Au<sub>101</sub>NC-rGO:AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub>). Both prepared samples were annealed in air at 210 °C for 15 min. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy showed that the Au<sub>101</sub>NC adhered almost exclusively to the rGO in the nanocomposite and maintained a size less than 2 nm. Under UV light irradiation, the Au<sub>101</sub>NC-AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub>:rGO nanocomposite produced H<sub>2</sub> at a rate 12 times greater than Au<sub>101</sub>NC-AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub> and 64 times greater than AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub>. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to the small particle size and high loading of Au<sub>101</sub>NC, which is achieved by non-covalent binding to rGO. These results show that significant improvements can be made to AlSrTiO<sub>3</sub>-based photocatalysts that use cluster co-catalysts by the addition of rGO as an electron mediator to achieve high cluster loading and limited agglomeration of the clusters.
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