Effective water splitting using N-doped TiO2 films: Role of preferred orientation on hydrogen production

N-doped TiO2 film with preferred (211) orientation, deposited by RF magnetron sputtering, was investigated for the water-splitting hydrogen production. It is found that the preferred crystal growth orientation of the films can be controlled by N2 flow rate during the deposition. The results reveal that not only the N-doping, but also the preferred orientation (i.e., large percentage of exposed (211) facet), can effectively enhance the activity of TiO2-based photocatalyst. With the increase of exposed (211) facets, the hydrogen production rates of N-doped TiO2 films rise from 760 μmol H2 h−1 m−2 to 4500 μmol H2 h−1 m−2, indicating that high performance of TiO2-based photocatalyst can be achieved by controlling the preferred orientation of the films.