N-doped Ni/C/TiO2 nanocomposite as effective photocatalyst for water splitting

N-doped Ni/C/TiO2 nanocomposite is introduced as an effective photocatalyst for water splitting under visible light radiation. The proposed photocatalyst contains most of the effective co-catalysts enhancing the photocatalytic activity of the titanium oxide. The nanocomposite was prepared by sintering a vacuously dried sol-gel composed of polyvinylpyrrolidone, titanium isopropoxide and nickel acetate under nitrogen atmosphere at 700 degrees C for 3 h. TEM, XRD and XPS analyses confirmed that the introduced catalyst is N-doped & TiO2-incorporated amorphous carbon sheets decorated by Ni nanoparticles. The introduced nanocomposite revealed distinct performance as photocatalyst toward water splitting reaction, numerically the generated hydrogen was 0.383 mmol. sec(-1). g(cat)(1); 8.6 ml.sec(-1). g(cat).(1) However, nickel content somewhat influences the catalytic performance; 15 wt% reveals the best performance. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.