Synergistic effects of CdS in sodium titanate based nanostructures for hydrogen evolution

In this paper, nanotubes and nanoribbons of sodium titanate structures were synthesized via hydrothermal methods in alkaline solution. CdS decorated titanate nanotubes and nanoribbons were therefore constructed for exploring the performance of hydrogen evolution and synergistic effect of CdS based titanate structures. CdS decorated titanate nanotubes and nanoribbons were characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. CdS encapsuled in titanate nanotubes (CdS-ETNTs) showed the best capacity of H-2 evolution by water splitting and stability than that from the other two structures, i.e., CdS doped titanate nanotubes (CdS-DTNTs) and CdS doped titanate nanoribbons (CdS-DTNRs), which could be explained by the synergistic effect of decorated CdS with sodium titanate structures and confinement effect of CdS nanoparticles encapsuled inside (C) 2017 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.