Preparation and characterization of Pt, N-TiO2-graphene nanocomposites for hydrogen production

Abstract

A hydrothermal technique was applied for the preparation of nitrogen-doped titania-reduced graphene oxide (NTRG) and platinum-nitrogen-codoped titania-reduced graphene oxide (PNTRG). Samples were characterized using various methods such as PL, UV–Vis, XRD, BET, TEM, and photocurrent testing. Production of hydrogen in the presence of visible light was selected to study the photocatalytic performance of TiO2 (T), N,TiO2 (NT), Pt, N-TiO2 (PNT), N-TiO2-rGO (NTRG) and Pt, N-TiO2-rGO (PNTRG) samples. The results reveal that the NTRG and PNTRG samples have high photocatalytic activity compared to the T, NT, and PNT samples. The photocatalytic performance of the PNTRG sample was greater than that of the T, NT, PNT and NTRG samples by 35, 3.5, 2.33 and 1.23 times, respectively. The results indicate that the increased photocatalytic activity was due to the hindered recombination rate of the photoinduced holes and electrons, an increase in the adsorption of reactants, and the shifting of the band gap energy from the ultraviolet region to the visible region. As a result, PNTRG is photocatalytically stable for five hydrogen production cycles.