Copper Sulfide Nanodot Decorated TiO2 Nanotube for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation from Water

Joint Event on 2^nd Edition of Graphene & Semiconductors | Diamond Graphite & Carbon Materials Conference & 6^th Edition of Smart Materials & Structures Conference

April 16-17, 2018 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

W. LIU, E. HA, L. WANG, G. ZHENG, L. HU, L.Y.S. LEE, K.-Y.WONG

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

Hydrogen energy presents an ideal alternative to fossil fuels in the future because of its high energy capacity, environmental friendliness, and cost-effectiveness. To date, much attention has been devoted to one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor nanomaterials for hydrogen generation due to its stability, catalytic activity and simple fabrication. 1D semiconductor material such as TiO2 nanotube (TNT) shows potential as a solar photocatalyst for hydrogen generation by its large surface area and superior charge transport property. However, some problems such as large band gap (3.3-3.8 eV) and high recombination rate of the photogenerated electron�hole pairs limits the solar application of TiO2 as a photocatalyst. Particularly, sensitizer decoration offers an effective strategy to improve the activity of photocatalyst for solar application by extending the photoresponse and promoting the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Recently, copper sulfide (CuxS, x is the undefined stoichiometric ratio) family has emerged as a class of effective sensitizers for semiconductor nanomaterials to improve hydrogen generation reaction. The CuxS family offers a wide spectrum of derivatives, which are attractive due to their wide absorption band and low reflectance in the visible range, making them promising candidates for solar energy-harvesting. The CuxS nanodots (NDs) attached TNTs are fabricated by wet chemistry technique at mild conditions. The morphologies, crystal phase, and optical properties as well as the photocatalytic behavior of the resulted CuxS/TNT are elaborately investigated. The results demonstrated that the CuxS ND/TNT offers a cost-effective and stable photocatalyst comparable with noble metal decorated TNT for efficient hydrogen generation from water.

Biography :

Liu is now pursuing his PhD degree at the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is involved in research projects related to photocatalysis, semiconductor nanomaterial and related characterizations, funded by University Grant Committee (UGC) of Hong Kong. He has published several research papers in international peer-reviewed journals such as J. Phys. Chem. C, Electrochim. Acta, J. Chin. Polym. Sci., Sci. China Chem., Sci. Rep., etc.
Email:patrick.simultaneously@gmail.com