Nickel sulfide as co-catalyst on nanostructured TiO2 for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

In this study, TiO2 photocatalysts with nickel sulfide cocatalyst are prepared by loading nickel sulfide on TiO2 with solvothermal synthesis approach. The materials were prepared by glycol solvothermal method using anatase, nickel nitrate, thiourea as precursor. The prepared catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). This is the first time to report that NiS is used as a cocatalyst with TiO2 for the photocatalytic production of H2. The results revealed that the structure and the amount of the cocatalyst loaded on TiO2 play important roles in the photocatalytic activity of NiS/TiO2 composite. The maximum evolution of H2 was obtained when NiS had hexagonal structure with content in the composite of 7 at% in relation to TiO2. The rate of H2 evolution was increased up to about 30 times than that of TiO2 alone.