Study on the synthesis of Ni doped mesoporous TiO2 and its photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution in aqueous methanol solution

Ni doped mesoporous TiO2 photocatalyst was prepared. XRD and EDX results indicated that Ni2+ was incorporated into the framework of the mesoporous TiO2 in a highly dispersed way. The results of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution in aqueous methanol solution under UV–Vis light irradiation showed that activity of hydrogen production strongly depended on the amount of Ni doped. The highest activity was achieved with Ni doping of 1%. The experimental results were rationalized by assuming that Ni2+ serves as shallow trapping sites, greatly enhancing the activity of the mesoporous photocatalyst.