Ionic Liquid Assisted Hydrothermal Syntheses of TiO2/CuO Nano-Composites for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Water

Hetero-junction TiO2/CuO nano-composite (NC) photocatalysts for hydrogen production from water were synthesized. A comparison of the photocatalytic activity obtained from the photocatalysts synthesized by conventional hydrothermal method (HM) and by ionic liquid assisted hydrothermal method (ILAHM) is provided. The composite nature and other physicochemical properties were investigated via thorough characterizations. Effect of thermal treatment conditions such as temperature and time on crystalline structure, surface area, quantum yield, band gap and hydrogen production activity of TiO2/CuO NCs has been studied comprehensively. The concentration of CuO in TiO2 matrix has been fine-tuned to improve the hydro-gen production. The synergy between the CuO and TiO2 has an optimum for concentration of 25 wt % of CuO in NCs synthesized by ILAHM, whereas it is 50 wt% of CuO in NCs synthesized by HM. Compared to the NCs prepared by conventional HM; the samples prepared by ILAHM have presented enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production showing ILAHM as a potential synthesis route. The optimized NC prepared by ILAHM has produced promising hydrogen evolution of 8670 mu m mol/g under the illumination from Xenon/Mercury lamp in water/ethanol system. The enhanced hydrogen evolution attributed to its porous like surface morphology, higher surface area and quantum yield.