Black Titania for Superior Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production and Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

2015 
To utilize visible-light solar energy to meet environmental and energy crises, black TiO2 as a photocatalyst is an excellent solution to clean polluted air and water and to produce H2. Herein, black TiO2 with a crystalline core–amorphous shell structure reduced easily by CaH2 at 400 °C is demonstrated to harvest over 80 % solar absorption, whereas white TiO2 harvests only 7 %, and possesses superior photocatalytic performances in the degradation of organics and H2 production. Its water decontamination is 2.4 times faster and its H2 production was 1.7 times higher than that of pristine TiO2. 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 TiO2. Consequently, this facile and versatile method could provide a promising and cost-effective approach to improve the visible-light absorption and performance of TiO2 in photocatalysis.
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