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Ionic Liquid Assisted Hydrothermal Syntheses of TiO 2 /CuO Nano‐Composites for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Water
Author(s) -
Ravishankar Thammadihalli N.,
Vaz Mauricio de O.,
Khan S.,
Ramakrishnappa T.,
Teixeira Sergio R.,
Balakrishna Geetha. R.,
Nagaraju G.,
Dupont J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201600068
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , hydrogen production , materials science , hydrothermal synthesis , hydrothermal circulation , hydrogen , ionic liquid , chemical engineering , quantum yield , composite number , yield (engineering) , catalysis , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , fluorescence , engineering
Hetero‐junction TiO 2 /CuO nano‐composite (NC) photocatalysts for hydrogen production from water were synthesized. A comparison of the photocatalytic activity obtained from the photocatalysts synthesized by conventional hydrothermal method (HM) and by ionic liquid assisted hydrothermal method (ILAHM) is provided. The composite nature and other physico‐chemical properties were investigated via thorough characterizations. Effect of thermal treatment conditions such as temperature and time on crystalline structure, surface area, quantum yield, band gap and hydrogen production activity of TiO 2 /CuO NCs has been studied comprehensively. The concentration of CuO in TiO 2 matrix has been fine‐tuned to improve the hydrogen production. The synergy between the CuO and TiO 2 has an optimum for concentration of 25 wt % of CuO in NCs synthesized by ILAHM, whereas it is 50 wt% of CuO in NCs synthesized by HM. Compared to the NCs prepared by conventional HM; the samples prepared by ILAHM have presented enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production showing ILAHM as a potential synthesis route. The optimized NC prepared by ILAHM has produced promising hydrogen evolution of 8670 µ mol/g under the illumination from Xenon/Mercury lamp in water/ethanol system. The enhanced hydrogen evolution attributed to its porous like surface morphology, higher surface area and quantum yield.