Graphene enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of dye-sensitized TiO2 under visible light irradiation

A novel graphene-based nanocomposite composed of tris(4,4′-dicarboxy-2,2′-bipyridine) ruthenium chloride (Ru(dcbpy)3) sensitized TiO2 and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was prepared by a colloidal blending method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The nanocomposite demonstrated nice photocatalytic activity and stability for water reduction to produce hydrogen. The amount of H2 evolved from the optimized Ru(dcbpy)3/TiO2/RGO/Pt catalyst is 959 μmol g−1 at pH 3 under 5 h visible-light irradiation.