Improving water splitting using RuO2-Zr/Na2Ti6O13 as a photocatalyst

• Hydrogen production by water splitting was reported using RuO2-Zr/Na2Ti6O13 as a photocatalyst.
• 2%Ru:Zr/Na2Ti6O13 shows a good activity and stability for hydrogen evolution.
• The improvement on the catalytic activity of the impregnated materials suggested a synergistic effect between the Zr and RuO2, which acted like an electron trap.

Na2Ti6O13 and Zr/Na2Ti6O13 prepared by the sol–gel method and impregnated with different amounts of RuO2 (0.1–10 wt%) were evaluated as photocatalysts for water splitting. The calcined materials at 800 °C were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Raman spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), N2 physisorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The physicochemical characterization confirmed that both materials had the tunnel structure. However, the Zr/Na2Ti6O13 sample revealed high Zr dispersion. The ideal amount of RuO2 to load the samples with was shown to be 2.0 wt %, which produced hydrogen at a rate of 265 μmol h−1. The apparent quantum yield efficiency was 21%. The improvement on the catalytic activity of the impregnated materials suggested a synergistic effect between the Zr and RuO2, which acted like an electron trap.

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