Photocatalytic hydrogen production and photodegradation of organic dyes of hydrogenated TiO2 nanofibers decorated metal nanoparticles

A series of metal decorated hydrogenated TiO2 nanofibers (metal-H: TiO2 NFs) are synthesized successfully in this study. It is synthesized by the hydrothermal approach and combined with wet impregnation method in thermal hydrogen reduction. Nine types of metal nanoparticles, Ag, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pd, Pt and Y, were used to decorate on the surface of H: TiO2 to enhance the photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic performance of various metal-H:TiO2 NFs was estimated by the photodegradation of organic dyes. Ag-H: TiO2 NFs gives the fastest decoloration rate of brilliant green among others. Moreover, the evolution rate of H-2 over Pd-H:TiO2 NFs under UV-A and UV-B illumination is 17,000 mu mol/g.h and 25,600 mu mol/g.h, respectively, which corresponding to photoefficiency values of similar to 7.54% and similar to 11.35%. The metal-H:TiO2 NFs developed in this study can be a facile and environmentally friendly way for searching the high-performance photocatalysts in the field of environmental and energy issue.