Porous NiTiO3/TiO2 nanostructures for photocatatalytic hydrogen evolution

We present a strategy to produce porous NiTiO3/TiO2 nanostructures with excellent photocatalytic activity toward hydrogen generation. In a first step, nickel-doped TiO2 needle bundles were synthesized by a hydrothermal procedure. Through the sintering in air of these nanostructures, porous NiTiO3/TiO2 heterostructured rods were obtained. Alternatively, the annealing in argon of the nickel-doped TiO2 needle bundles resulted in NiOx/TiO2 elongated nanostructures. Porous NiTiO3/TiO2 structures were tested for hydrogen evolution in the presence of ethanol. Such porous heterostructures exhibited superior photocatalytic activity toward hydrogen generation, with hydrogen production rates up to 11.5 mmol h(-1) g(-1) at room temperature. This excellent performance is related here to the optoelectronic properties and geometric parameters of the material.