Gold/titania Nanorod Assembled Urchin-like Photocatalysts with an Enhanced Hydrogen Generation by Photocatalytic Biomass Reforming
Cai Shi, Weijie Yuan, Keqi Qu, Junming Shi, Malin Eqi, Xushen Tan, Zhanhua Huang, Felipe Gándara, Materials Science Factory, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), C/Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 3, Madrid 28049, Spain, Duo Pan, Nithesh Naik, Yixiang Zhang, Zhanhu Guo
Abstract
Herein, we successfully constructed Au/hierarchical urchin-like TiO 2 architectures (Au/HT) photocatalysts, which were assembled by crystalline nanorods by one-step solvothermal method under mild conditions. The as-prepared samples showed an outstandingly renewable H 2 evolution by the photocatalytic glucose reforming. Au/HT revealed a high H 2 evolution rate of 616.23 mol h -1 g -1 under visible-light irradiation at low temperatures without any additional Pt co-catalyst, which was about 46.23 and 15.81 times than that of P25 and HT, since the (one-dimensional) 1D nanorods could effectively accelerate electron transfer and restrain the recombination of photogenerated carriers, meanwhile, (three-dimensional) 3D hierarchical architectures could improve the light capturing capability of HT, and surface-plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Au nanoparticles, which further improved the separation efficiency of photogenerated charges, extended the visible light absorption, and accelerated the H 2 generation. This work offers a potential way to produce sustainable H 2 from environmentally renewable biomass materials using solar energy.