Facile synthesis of flake-like TiO2/C nano-composites for photocatalytic H2 evolution under visible-light irradiation

The production of H-2 by photocatalytic water splitting has become a promising approach for clean, economical, and renewable evolution of H-2 by using solar energy. In spite of tremendous efforts, the present challenge for materials scientists is to build a highly active photocatalytic system with high efficiency and low cost. Here we report a facile method for the preparation of TiO2/C nano-flakes, which was used as an efficient visible-light photocatalyst for H-2 evolution. This composite material was prepared by using a phase-transfer strategy combined with salt-template calcination treatment. The results showed that anatase TiO2 nanoparticles with the diameter of similar to 10 nm were uniformly dispersed on the carbon nano flakes. In addition, the samples prepared at 600 degrees C (denoted as T600) endowed a larger surface area of 196 m(2) g(-1) and higher light absorption, resulting in enhanced photocatalytic activity. Further, the T600 product reached a high H-2 production rate of 57.2 mu mol h(-1) under visible-light irradiation. This unusual photocatalytic activity arose from the positive synergetic effect between the TiO2 and carbon in this hybrid catalyst. This work highlights the potential of TiO2/C nano-flakes in the field of photocatalytic H-2 evolution under visible-light irradiation. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.