Effective nonmetal incorporation in black titania with enhanced solar energy utilization

Nonmetal-doped black titania is achieved in a core-shell structure by a two-step synthesis. The nonmetal dopants in amorphous TiO2-x shells decrease e-h recombination centers, and more than 6.6 at.% N further improves solar energy absorption from 65% up to 85%. The photocatalytic H-2 generation of the N-doped black titania is 15.0 mmol h(-1) g(-1) under 100 mW cm(-2) of full-sunlight and 200 mmol h(-1) g(-1) under 90 mW cm(-2) of visible-light irradiation, superior to TiO2-x and reported titania photocatalysis.