Photocatalytic water splitting of TiO₂ nanotubes powders prepared via rapid breakdown anodization sensitized with Pt, Pd and Ni nanoparticles

Abstract

The present work deals with the generation of H₂ through water splitting using titania (TiO₂) nanotubes (NTs) prepared via rapid breakdown anodization. The anatase TiO₂ NTs sensitized with Pt, Pd and Ni nanoparticles (NPs) to investigate the efficiency of water splitting of these nanocomposites. The Pt, Pd and Ni NPs were loaded over TiO₂ NTs through chemical reduction of the respective precursors. The morphology of the TiO₂ NTs was observed to be produced as bundles. The metal NPs sensitized TiO₂ NTs as spherical deposits. The H₂ generation is larger with the addition of metal NPs and moreover lower quantity deposits produced better results. Pt NPs addition was better among the group in terms of H₂ generation over the other metals of the same group. The Pt/TiO₂ NTs with 5% metal sensitization generated H₂ with a specific release rate of 241.8 μmol g⁻¹ min⁻¹_.

Keywords:

• Titania
• nanotubes
• rapid breakdown anodization
• water splitting
• hydrogen generation

Acknowledgement

TMD thanks Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India for the award of Senior Research fellowship (SRF) with sanction order vide no: 08/264/(0007)/2017-EMR-I. TMD, CR and PS gratefully acknowledge UGC-DAE CSR for the grant received (grant number: CSRKN/CRS-52/2013-14/651). Dr. G. Amarendra, Director, UGC-DAE CSR, Kalpakkam Node and Dr. Shamima Hussain, Scientist-E UGC-DAE CSR, Kalpakkam Node are gratefully acknowledged for their useful discussions. The authors thank Dr. S. Amirthapandian, IGCAR, Kalpakkam for the TEM facility. TMD acknowledges the support of Ms. M. Rebeca Sofiya Joice while preparing the manuscript. The authors are thankful for Mr. S. Dhanavel, Dept. of Nuclear Physics, University of Madras (Guindy Campus) and Ms. V. Manju, EEC Division, CECRI, Karaikudi for the XRD and DRS spectral data, respectively.