Hydrothermal Crystallization of Nano-Titanium Dioxide for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

摘要

Perfect crystallization of active sites in supported TiO2 photocatalysts is still a challenge. In this work, we report a new photocatalyst design by the unique combination of nanomaterial morphology and an active site crystallization procedure. This yielded nano-TiO2 based photocatalysts with one of the highest reported photocatalytic hydrogen yields. Hydrothermal crystallization of amorphous TiO2 sites was found to be key step to generate highly active TiO2 sites which in turn improved their catalytic activities significantly. These catalysts were then sensitized by CdSe quantum dots to achieve visiblelight- active photocatalytic hydrogen generation.