Visible light photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production from N-TiO2 rice grain shaped electrospun nanostructures

We report on the visible light-driven hydrogen production from splitting of water molecules by nitrogen-doped TiO2 (N-TiO2) with a rice grain-like nanostructure morphology. The N-TiO2 nanostructures are prepared using sol-gel and electrospinning methods followed by post-annealing of the composite nanofibers. The nanostructures are characterized by microscopy and spectroscopy. First order rate constants for the visible light-assisted photocatalysis in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye are found to be 0.2 × 10−3 and 1.8 × 10−3 min−1 for TiO2 and N-TiO2 (5 wt% of nitrogen), respectively. The N-TiO2 utilized in water splitting experiments and evaluated hydrogen (H2) of 28 and 2 μmol/h for N-TiO2 and TiO2, respectively. The improvement may be attributed due to the N-doping and higher surface area as ∼70 m2/g.

► N-doped TiO2 (N-TiO2) rice grain shapes are prepared by electrospinning and the resultant surface area of the rice grain shapes were about ∼70 m2/g. ► N-TiO2 rice grains show a reduced band gap and enhanced UV–vis photoactivity. ► Visible light-assisted photo degradation of the methylene blue is observed for N-TiO2. ► Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production and hydrogen efficiency are found and reported.