Improving the hydrogen production from water over MgO promoted Ni-Si/CNTs photocatalyst

The issues related to design a simple, low-cost and earth-abundant metal based photocatalyst should be comprehensively considered for long-term global view of clean energy demand. Herein, the data were addressed the cost effective and significantly effective hydrogen (H-2) production from water over MgO promoted Ni-Si/CNTs photocatalyst under visible light irradiation without using of any sacrificial agents. The catalyst was synthesized by a simple, easily scalable one-pot solid phase reduction reaction of metal oxides embedded on the carbon nanotube. The band gaps of these composites were estimated to be 3.50 -3.58 eV from the onsets of diffuse reflection spectra. It was found that the composite Ni-Si-MgO/CNTs showed a higher H-2 evolution rate in comparison with Ni-Si/MgO under visible light irradiation. With the use of Ni-Si-MgO/CNTs as a photocatalyst, the H-2 evolution is estimated to be 815 mu mol for 1 h, the highest value so far reported among the family of noble-metal-free photocatalyst without the help of sacrificial electron donor under visible irradiation. No significant reduction of H-2 production (715 mu mol h(-1)) was observed even after 3 consecutive runs of photocatalyst indicating the suitability of catalyst. The results represent an important step forward towards the hydrogen production from water owing to its scalability and low fabrication cost. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.