Photocatalytic H2 production on self-decorated Au nanoparticles/TiO2 nanotubes under visible light

In the present work we fabricate TiO2 nanotubes that are self-decorated with Au nanoparticles by anodizing low concentration (0.02 and 0.2 at.% Au) TiAu alloys. After formation, the TiO2 tube walls carry regularly dispersed self-decorated Au particles with ~ 5 nm in diameter which cause significant surface plasmon resonances. This plasmon resonance effect can be exploited to achieve visible photoresponse and can be used for photocatalytic H2 production under visible light illumination.