Abstract
Platinum nanoparticles (Pt)-supported multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) ternary composite was synthesized by a step-wise approach. The MWNT/TiO2 composite was prepared via a sol-gel technique, after which post annealing was applied, and then the Pt nanoparticles were loaded by photo-deposition. This paper reports the enhanced hydrogen production through the application of Pt nanoparticles on photocatalytic water splitting under visible and UV-vis light. The results showed that no appreciable H2 production was achieved using Pt@MWNT/TiO2 ternary composites as a photocatalyst under visible light, whereas a substantial amount of H2 was produced under full spectra. The ternary composite with a Pt loading of 1.5 wt% exhibited the highest H2 production level (435.9 μmol h-1), which was significantly higher than that of pure TiO2 (78.6 μmol h-1) and MWNT/TiO2 composite (235.6 μmol h-1). The efficient hydrogen production activity of the ternary composite can be attributed to the synergetic effect of MWNT and Pt nanoparticles, which enhances the light absorption ability and facilitates a greater charge separation activity. Hence, we report that the appropriate combination of Pt as a co-catalyst can greatly improve the photocatalytic H2 production performance of MWNT/TiO2 composites.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 345-352 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Synthetic Metals |
Volume | 199 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2015 |
Keywords
- Carbon nanotubes
- Hydrogen production
- Noble metal
- Photocatalyst
- Ternary composite
- Titanium dioxide