Effect of TiO2 Crystallite Diameter on Photocatalytic Water Splitting Rate

Abstract

The effect of (Pt-loaded)TiO2 crystallite diameter (i.e. Scherrer size) on the photocatalytic water splitting rate was investigated. (Pt-loaded)TiO2 powders with a wide range of crystallite diameters from about 16 to 45 nm with a blank region between about 23 and 41 nm were prepared by various annealing processes from an identical TiO2 powder. Water splitting experiments with these powders were carried out with methanol as an oxidizing sacrificial agent. It was found that the photocatalytic water splitting rate was sensitively affected by the crystallite diameter of the (Pt-loaded)TiO2 powder. More concretely, similar steep improvements of photocatalytic water splitting rates from around 15 and a little over 2 to about 30 μmol·m-2hr-1 were obtained in the two (Pt-loaded)TiO2 crystallite diameters ranging from 16 to 23 and from 41 to 45 nm, respectively.