Efficient Reduction of 4‐Nitrophenol by Using Pd Cluster‐Modified TiO2 Photocatalyst

A highly efficient composite photocatalyst, Pd-TiO2 nanorods (Pd-TNR) was synthesized via hydrothermal and molten salt methods in this work. The unique nanorod structure, coupled with the presence of Ti3+, oxygen vacancies (Vo), and uniformly dispersed 1.5 nm Pd clusters, underpins the exceptional catalytic performance. With only 0.4% Pd loading, the Pd-TNR catalyst achieves nearly 100% conversion of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) within just 2 min. A plausible reaction mechanism is proposed based on comprehensive characterization and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which elucidates the synergistic roles of the nanorod support, Ti3+, Vo and Pd in the photocatalytic reduction process.