Synthesis of C60-decorated SWCNTs (C60-d-CNTs) and its TiO2-based nanocomposite with enhanced photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production

A novel nanostructured carbon/TiO2 nanocomposite photocatalyst is firstly fabricated via a facile hydrothermal process by using fullerene (C-60) decorated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as carbon source, which is denoted as C-60-d-CNTs. The obtained nanostructured carbon/TiO2 nanocomposites are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UVvis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), Raman spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and photoluminescence spectra (PL), and then are used as catalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen production. It is found that the kinds and contents of various carbon nanostructured materials (such as SWCNTs, C-60 and C-60-d-CNTs) coupled with TiO2 can significantly enhance the photoactivity for hydrogen production, and the 5 wt% C-60-d-CNTs/TiO2 nanocomposite exhibits the best performance. Experimental results suggest that the C-60-d-CNTs as a novel carbon nanostructured material could be more beneficial for the photogenerated carrier separation than SWCNTs and C-60 when these carbon nanostructured materials are coupled with TiO2.