Green hydrogen production by solar photocatalysis using Pt-TiO2 nanosheets with reactive facets

Abstract

Green production of hydrogen is essential for the development of a hydrogen economy. In this study, the photocatalytic water-splitting technology is developed to harness solar energy for production of renewable hydrogen. Pt-TiO2 nanosheets were fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method, followed by photo-reduction of Pt(acac)2 on B,F-codoped TiO2 with reactive facets. The as-prepared photocatalysts were characterised by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The photocatalytic hydrogen production performance was systematically investigated under UV-visible irradiation. The parametric results indicate that the TiO2 nanosheet structure, Pt loading and photocatalyst concentration have significant impacts on the photocatalytic hydrogen production. The highest hydrogen production rate obtained is 5,086 μmol h-1g-1.