Fe2O3/TiO2 photocatalyst of hierarchical structure for H2 production from water under visible light irradiation

A TiO2 deposited on Fe2O3 photocatalyst of hierarchical structure (H-Fe2O3/TiO2) has been developed by using Papilioparis butterfly wings as a template. The hierarchical quasi-honeycomb structure inherited from the template acts as an optical trap where lights were repeatedly reflected and absorbed. As a result, the obtained H-Fe2O3/TiO2 demonstrated a markedly improved visible light-harvesting property. The incorporation of TiO2 to Fe2O3 makes Fe2O3/TiO2 an efficient photocatalyst for H-2 production from water, and the band structure was discussed based on electrochemical responses, which play a pivotal for the higher negative potential observed in Fe2O3/TiO2 as compared with pure Fe2O3. Interestingly, the H-2 produced from the H-Fe2O3/TiO2 of hierarchical structure was measured to be 217.6 mu mol .h(-1), which is 1.8 times as that of powder P-Fe2O3/TiO2, indicating a positive synergistic effect of the composition and morphology on the enhancement of photocatalytic properties. Our results open a new avenue to design high-performance heterogeneous photocatalyst of hierarchical structure for photo-dissociating water under visible light irradiation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.