Cu 2 O‐Decorated Mesoporous TiO 2 Beads as a Highly Efficient Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Production

• Published in: ChemCatChem 2014-01, Vol.6 (1), p.293-300
• Main Authors: Cheng, Wei‐Yun, Yu, Tsung‐Hsuan, Chao, Kang‐Ju, Lu, Shih‐Yuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1867-3880; 1867-3899
• DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300681

Cu 2 O‐decorated mesoporous TiO 2 beads (MTBs) are developed as a low‐cost, highly efficient photocatalyst for H 2 production. MTBs with a high specific surface area of 189 m 2  g −1 , a large pore volume of 0.43 cm 3  g −1 and a suitable pore size of 8.9 nm are decorated with band‐structure‐matched Cu 2 O nanocrystals through a simple, fast and low‐cost chemical bath deposition process. The Cu 2 O nanocrystals serve as an electron–hole separation centre to promote H 2 evolution. Under optimal operation conditions, an ultra‐high specific H 2 evolution rate of 223 mmol h −1  g −1 is achieved. The success is attributed to the structural advantages of the MTBs of high specific surface areas, large pore volumes and suitable pore sizes together with the much improved electron–hole separation and light utilisation of the Cu 2 O‐decorated MTBs. The H 2 evolution rates achieved with the Cu 2 O‐decorated MTBs are one order of magnitude higher than those achieved by commercial P25 TiO 2 .