Preparation and Hydrogen Production Performance of Ni-modified Octahedral TiO₂ Nanoparticles

TiO₂ has been widely used in the study of photocatalytic hydrogen production because of its excellent photocatalytic activity. Octahedral TiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized by using a one-step hydrothermal method with potassium titanate nanowires as raw materials in NH₄Cl and NH₃·H₂O mixed solutions. The synthesized octahedral TiO₂ nanoparticles has high crystallinity and uniformity. Various contents of Ni were deposited on surface of the TiO₂ nanoparticles by using light deposition technology. It is experimentally found that the modification of Ni can significantly inhibit the recombination of photogenerated electron and holes, thus greatly improving the efficiency of hydrogen production. When the modification content of Ni is 3 wt.%, the hydrogen production efficiency of photolysis water is optimized, with the hydrogen production rate reaching 2.11 mmol·g^-1 within 1 h.