Efficient visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution (VLD-HER) is the most desirable for utilizing solar energy, but it remains a significant challenge to fabricate advanced photocatalysts. Herein, we report on a single-atom ruthenium doped monolayered TiO₂ nanosheet catalyst (Ru₁/TiNS). Unlike pure TiO₂ with no VLD-HER activity, Ru₁/TiNS enables efficient H₂ evolution with a mmol h^-1 g^-1 magnitude (4.81) under visible light, comparable to 8.95 mmol h^-1 g^-1 under full light spectrum. Various ex-/in-situ characterizations and theoretical calculations reveal that the single-atom Ru₁ introduces an impurity energy level, allowing light absorption up to 700 nm, and an oxygen vacancy around Ru₁ tends to be a charge trapping site, promoting rapid photogenerated electron separation and transportation. This study provides a promising catalyst-design strategy for high-efficiency hydrogen production using solar energy.

高效可见光驱动的氢气释放（VLD-HER）是利用太阳能最理想的方法，但制造先进的光催化剂仍然是一项重大挑战。在本文中，我们报道了单原子钌掺杂的单层TiO ₂纳米片状催化剂（Ru ₁ / TiNS）。与没有VLD-HER活性的纯TiO ₂不同，Ru ₁ / TiNS在可见光下能够以mmol h ^-1  g ^-1量级（4.81）有效地释放H ₂，与在全光下为8.95 mmol h ^-1  g ^-1相当光谱。各种异位/原位表征和理论计算表明，单原子Ru₁引入了杂质能级，允许吸收高达700 nm的光，Ru ₁周围的氧空位倾向于成为电荷俘获位点，从而促进了光生电子的快速分离和传输。这项研究为利用太阳能高效制氢提供了一种有前途的催化剂设计策略。