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Black Titania for Superior Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production and Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting
Author(s) -
Zhu Guilian,
Yin Hao,
Yang Chongyin,
Cui Houlei,
Wang Zhou,
Xu Jijian,
Lin Tianquan,
Huang Fuqiang
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201500488
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , photocurrent , water splitting , hydrogen production , materials science , visible spectrum , photocatalytic water splitting , absorption (acoustics) , chemical engineering , solar energy , photochemistry , amorphous solid , degradation (telecommunications) , nanotechnology , hydrogen , catalysis , optoelectronics , chemistry , composite material , ecology , telecommunications , biochemistry , organic chemistry , computer science , engineering , biology
Abstract To utilize visible‐light solar energy to meet environmental and energy crises, black TiO 2 as a photocatalyst is an excellent solution to clean polluted air and water and to produce H 2 . Herein, black TiO 2 with a crystalline core–amorphous shell structure reduced easily by CaH 2 at 400 °C is demonstrated to harvest over 80 % solar absorption, whereas white TiO 2 harvests only 7 %, and possesses superior photocatalytic performances in the degradation of organics and H 2 production. Its water decontamination is 2.4 times faster and its H 2 production was 1.7 times higher than that of pristine TiO 2 . Photoelectrochemical measurements reveal that the reduced samples exhibit greatly improved carrier densities, charge separation, and photocurrent (a 4.5‐fold increase) compared with the original TiO 2 . Consequently, this facile and versatile method could provide a promising and cost‐effective approach to improve the visible‐light absorption and performance of TiO 2 in photocatalysis.