Hydrothermally Stabilized Fe(iii) Doped Titania Active Under Visible Light For Water Splitting Reaction

摘要

Fe~(3+) doped TiO_2 photocatalysts were prepared by hydrothermal treatment for the photo-catalytic water splitting to produce stoichiometric hydrogen and oxygen under visible light irradiation. It was found that hydrothermal treatment at 110 ℃ for 10 h was essential for the synthesis of highly stabilized Fe~(3+) doped TiO_2 photocatalysts. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS) and BET surface area techniques. The doping of highly stabilized Fe~(3+) in the titania matrix leads to significant red shift of optical response towards visible light owing to the reduced band gap energy. Optimum amount of Fe~(3+) doped TiO_2, 1.0 wt% Fe/TiO_2, showed drastically improved hydrogen production performance of 12.5 μmol-H_2/h in aqueous methanol and 1.8 μmol-H_2/h in pure water, respectively. This Fe/TiO_2 photocatalyst was stable for 36 h without significant deactivation in the water splitting reaction.