Synergistic effects of carbon doping and coating of TiO2 with exceptional photocurrent enhancement for high performance H2 production from water splitting

Yingying Wang, Yan Xin Chen, Tarek Barakat, Tian Ming Wang, Alain Krief, Yu Jia Zeng, Marvin Laboureur, Luca Fusaro, Hong Gang Liao, Bao Lian Su

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The “one pot” simultaneous carbon coating and doping of TiO2 materials by the hydrolysis of TiCl4 in fructose is reported. The synergistic effect of carbon doping and coating of TiO2 to significantly boost textural, optical and electronic properties and photocurrent of TiO2 for high performance visible light H2 production from water splitting has been comprehensively investigated. Carbon doping can significantly increase the thermal stability, thus inhibiting the phase transformation of the Titania material from anatase to rutile while carbon coating can suppress the grain aggregation of TiO2. The synergy of carbon doping and coating can not only ensure an enhanced narrowing effect of the electronic band gap of TiO2 thus extending the absorption of photocatalysts to the visible regions, but also promote dramatically the separation of electron-hole pairs. Owing to these synergistic effects, the carbon coated and doped TiO2 shows much superior photocatalytic activity for both degradation of organics and photocatalytic/photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting under simulated sunlight illumination. The photocatalytic activity of obtained materials can reach 5, 4 and 2 times higher than that of pristine TiO2, carbon doped TiO2 and carbon coated TiO2, respectively in the degradation of organic pollutants. The carbon coated and doped TiO2 materials exhibited more than 37 times and hundreds of times photocurrent enhancement under simulated sunlight and visible light, respectively compared to that of pristine TiO2. The present work providing new comprehensive understanding on carbon coating and doping effect could be very helpful for the development of advanced TiO2 materials for a large series of applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)141-151
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Energy Chemistry
Volume56
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2021

Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( U1663225 , 21805280 ), Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT_15R52), the Minstry of Education of China. We thank the 111 Project (Grant No. B20002) from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education of China , China, European Commission, , Interreg V France-Wallonie- Vlaanderen (Depollutair) , the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities ( WUT : 2017III001 ), China and the FJIRSM & IUE Joint Research Fund ( RHZX-2018-002 ), China for supporting this work.

FundersFunder number
Interreg V France-Wallonie- Vlaanderen
Interreg V France-Wallonie-Vlaanderen
European Commission
National Natural Science Foundation of China21805280, U1663225
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
Ministry of Science and Technology
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities2017III001, RHZX-2018-002
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Higher Education Discipline Innovation ProjectB20002
Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project
Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in UniversityIRT_15R52
Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University

    Keywords

    • Carbon coating and doping
    • One-pot
    • PEC water splitting
    • Solar light photocatalysis
    • TiO

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Synergistic effects of carbon doping and coating of TiO2 with exceptional photocurrent enhancement for high performance H2 production from water splitting'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this