Exfoliated and reorganized graphite oxide on titania nanoparticles as an auxiliary co-catalyst for photocatalytic solar conversion

The hybrid of graphite oxide (GO)/TiO2 was prepared through the spontaneous exfoliation of bulky graphite oxide and reorganization with TiO2 nanoparticles as a solar conversion and hydrogen-generating photocatalyst. GO/TiO2 showed enhanced activities for both photocurrent generation (in an electrode form) and hydrogen production (in a slurry form) than those of bare TiO2 under UV light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of GO/TiO2 is ascribed to the ability of graphitie layers in accepting and transporting electrons from excited TiO2, promoting the charge separation. When GO was hybridized with platinized TiO2 (Pt/TiO2), it showed a marked synergistic effect for the photocatalytic hydrogen production compared with GO/TiO2 and Pt/TiO2. This indicates that the cheap and abundant carbon material can be a good candidate for an electron attracting reservoir and an auxiliary co-catalyst for the photocatalytic hydrogen production.