Synthesis and photocatalytic activity for water-splitting reaction of nanocrystalline mesoporous titania prepared by hydrothermal method

Nanocrystalline mesoporous TiO2 was synthesized by hydrothermal method using titanium butoxide as starting material. XRD, SEM, and TEM analyses revealed that the synthesized TiO2 had anatase structure with crystalline size of about 8 nm. Moreover, the synthesized titania possessed a narrow pore size distribution with average pore diameter and high specific surface area of 215 m2/g. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized TiO2 was evaluated with photocatalytic H2 production from water-splitting reaction. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized TiO2 treated with appropriate calcination temperature was considerably higher than that of commercial TiO2 (Ishihara ST-01). The utilization of mesoporous TiO2 photocatalyst with high crystallinity of anatase phase promoted great H2 production. Furthermore, the reaction temperature significantly influences the water-splitting reaction.