Highly-efficient photocatalytic activity of TiO2-AC nanocomposites for hydrogen production from sulphide wastewater

Abstract

Photocatalytic water splitting is one of the prospective green energy technologies, particularly, for hydrogen production from wastewater under natural sunlight irradiation. Herein, we report experimental data on the synthesis and characteristics of the biomass activated carbon (b-AC)-anchored anatase titanium oxide (a-TiO2) nanocomposites, which were ultrasonically prepared by using the sol-gel-grown a-TiO2 spherical nanoparticles and the KOH-activated citron-derived b-AC nanoflakes. The a-TiO2/b-AC nanocomposites displayed an aggregated morphology with the interconnected spherical nanoparticles, and they showed a high surface area (495 m2/g). When using a-TiO2/b-AC as a photocatalyst for hydrogen production from sulphide wastewater (0.15 M) under solar irradiation (740 W/m2), the superb hydrogen production efficiency was achieved up to 400 mL/h. The results suggest the a-TiO2/b-AC nanocomposites to hold an ample potential for photocatalytic hydrogen production from the wastewater. © 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC