SiC nanomaterials with different morphologies for photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light irradiation

Abstract Nanostructured SiC was employed as the catalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen production from water splitting under visible light irradiation. The SiC materials with different morphologies (whiskery, worm-like and particulate) were prepared by the carbothermal reduction using different carbon and silica precursors. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution was evaluated from pure water without any sacrificial agent. The results show that the SiC with different morphologies presents different photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance. The average hydrogen evolution rates over the particulate and worm-like SiC are 83.9 μL/g h and 82.8 μL/g h, respectively, which are much higher than that over the SiC whiskers (45.7 μL/g h). The difference in the photocatalytic performance can be ascribed to the different specific surface areas and morphologies.