Hydrogen production by Tuning the Photonic Band Gap with the Electronic Band Gap of TiO2

G. I. N. Waterhouse, A. K. Wahab, M. Al-Oufi, V. Jovic, Dalaver H. Anjum, D. Sun-Waterhouse, J. Llorca, H. Idriss

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100 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tuning the photonic band gap (PBG) to the electronic band gap (EBG) of Au/TiO2 catalysts resulted in considerable enhancement of the photocatalytic water splitting to hydrogen under direct sunlight. Au/TiO2 (PBG-357 nm) photocatalyst exhibited superior photocatalytic performance under both UV and sunlight compared to the Au/TiO2 (PBG-585 nm) photocatalyst and both are higher than Au/TiO2 without the 3 dimensionally ordered macro-porous structure materials. The very high photocatalytic activity is attributed to suppression of a fraction of electron-hole recombination route due to the co-incidence of the PBG with the EBG of TiO2 These materials that maintain their activity with very small amount of sacrificial agents (down to 0.5 vol.% of ethanol) are poised to find direct applications because of their high activity, low cost of the process, simplicity and stability.
Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalScientific Reports
Volume3
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 10 2013

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