Novel synthesis of rutile titanium dioxide–polypyrrole nano composites and their application in hydrogen generation

• PPy/TiO2 rutile nanocomposites have been synthesized in a two-phase solvent system.
• The morphology of PPy/TiO2 composites can be controlled in the synthesis.
• PPy/TiO2 composites expand the absorption wavelength to the visible light.
• PPy/TiO2 composites can split water directly under the sunlight.
• PPy/TiO2 rutile nanocomposites synthesized by biphasic method have very large thermal stability.

This work presents the first report of rutile titanium dioxide (TiO2)–polypyrrole (PPy) nanocomposites prepared by chemical polymerization of pyrrole in situ in the presence of pure rutile phase TiO2 nanoparticles. The TiO2 rutile nanoparticles were made in water while the composite was made in a biphasic ionic liquid–water system. We attempted for the first time to split water under sunlight with this recoverable photocatalyst.

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