Facile synthesis of Ti3+ doped Ag/AgI-TiO2 nanoparticles with efficient visible-light photocatalytic activity

We successfully synthesized novel Ti3+ doped TiO2 and Ti3+ doped Ag/AgI-TiO2 nano particles with efficient visible-light photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production by facile one-step solvothermal method. The as-prepared Ti3+ doped TiO2 nanoparticles displayed excellent visible-light absorption and visible-light driven hydrogen production activity (115.3 umol g(-1) h(-1)), while the commercial TiO2 had no visible-light response. Moreover, the as-prepared Ti3+ doped Ag/AgI TiO2 nanoparticles in this experiment showed highly enhanced visible-light absorption and efficient visible-light driven activity for hydrogen (571.0 mu mol g(-1) h(-1)), which was 4.95 times as high as that of the as-prepared TiO2 nanoparticles. And the surface areas of the as-prepared TiO2 and Ti3+ doped Ag/AgI TiO2 catalysts were up to 138.829 m(2) g(-1) and 102.988 m(2) g(-1), much higher than that of the commercial TiO2 (55.516 m(2) g(-1) ). Finally, the visible-light photocatalytic mechanism of the Ti3+ doped Ag/AgI TiO2 nanoparticles for hydrogen generation was also proposed in detail. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.