Nanospherical like reduced graphene oxide decorated TiO 2 nanoparticles: An advanced catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Modification of titanium dioxide (TiO 2) for H 2 generation is a grand challenge due to its high chemical inertness, large bandgap, narrow light-response range and rapid recombination of electrons and holes. Herein, we report a simple process to prepare nanospherical like reduced graphene oxide (NS-rGO) decorated TiO 2 nanoparticles (NS-rGO/TiO 2) as photocatalysts. This modified TiO 2 sample exhibits remarkably significant improvement on visible light absorption, narrow band gap and efficient charge collection and separation. The photocatalytic H 2 production rate of NS-rGO/TiO 2 is high as 13996 I 1/4mol g â '1 h â '1, which exceeds that obtained on TiO 2 alone and TiO 2 with parallel graphene sheets by 3.45 and 3.05 times, respectively. This improvement is due to the presence of NS-rGO as an electron collector and transporter. The geometry of NS-rGO should be effective in the design of a graphene/TiO 2 composite for photocatalytic applications.