TiO₂-Au composite nanofibers for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

TiO₂-based materials for photocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) evolution have attracted much interest as a renewable approach for clean energy applications. TiO₂-Au composite nanofibers (NFs) with an average fiber diameter of ∼160 nm have been fabricated by electrospinning combined with calcination treatment. In situ reduced gold nanoparticles (NPs) with uniform size (∼10 nm) are found to disperse homogenously in the TiO₂ NF matrix. The TiO₂-Au composite NFs catalyst can significantly enhance the photocatalytic H₂ generation with an extremely high rate of 12 440 μmol g^-1 h^-1, corresponding to an adequate apparent quantum yield of 5.11% at 400 nm, which is 25 times and 10 times those of P25 (584 μmol g^-1 h^-1) and pure TiO₂ NFs (1254 μmol g^-1 h^-1), respectively. Furthermore, detailed studies indicate that the H₂ evolution efficiency of the TiO₂-Au composite NF catalyst is highly dependent on the gold content. This work provides a strategy to develop highly efficient catalysts for H₂ evolution.