A QUITE STABLE COBALT SULFIDE QUANTUM DOT MODIFIED TIO2 NANO COMPOSITE CATALYST FOR EFFICIENT PHOTOCATALYTIC WATER SPLITTING

摘要

TiO2, a well known photocatalyst, has been extensively investigated as a typical photocatalyst over the last few decades for its low cost, nontoxicity, and high chemical stability [1,2]. However, the wide band gap (> 3.2 eV) of TiO2 restricts its utilization of the visible part in the solar spectrum, and the high recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes in TiO2 often leads to a low quantum yield and poor photocatalytic activity [3]. Numerous efforts have been made to overcome these shortcomings and enhance the photocatalytic H2 production activity, such as dye sensitization [4], metal and nonmetal ion doping [5], semiconductor combination [6] and cocatalyst loading [7]. Here, we report for the first time the CoSx/TiO2 nanocomposite photocatalysts prepared with a simple precipitation-deposition and solvothermal synthesis method. We have found that the structure and loading content of CoSx cocatalyst play important roles on the photocatalytic activity of the catalyst (CoSx/TiO2).