Nitrogen-doped anatase nanofibers decorated with noble metal nanoparticles for photocatalytic production of hydrogen

• We report the synthesis of N-doped TiO2 nanofibers and high photocatalytic efficiency in generating hydrogen from ethanol-water mixtures under UV-A and UV-B irradiation. Titanate nanofibers synthesized by hydrothermal method are annealed in air and/or ammonia to achieve N-doped anatase fibers. Depending on the synthesis route, either interstitial N atoms or new N-Ti bonds appear in the lattice resulting in slight lattice expansion as shown by XPS and HR-TEM analyses, respectively. These nanofibers were then used as support for Pd and Pt nanoparticles deposited with wet impregnation followed by calcination and reduction. In the hydrogen generation tests the N-doped samples were clearly outperforming their un-doped counterparts showing remarkable efficiency not only under UV-B but also with UV-A illumination. Applying 100 mg catalyst (N-doped TiO2 nanofiber decorated with Pt nanoparticles) in 1 L water-ethanol mixture the H2 evolution rates were as high as 700 μmol/h (UV-A) and 2250 μmol/h (UV-B) corresponding to photo energy percentages of ~3.6% and ~12.3%, respectively.

Nyckelord

hydrogen production

photocatalysis

nanowire

nitrogen-doped anatase

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