Facile Synthesis of Porous Zn2Ti3O8 Nanorods for Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting

Graphical Splittin' up is hard to do: Pure porous Zn 2 Ti 3 O 8 nanorods are synthesized by using the glycolate precursor route followed by calcination. The nanorods display good activity in photocatalytic overall water splitting owing to a suitable band gap and their 1 D porous structure. The pure-phase Zn 2 Ti 3 O 8 nanorods, as a new member of the perovskite catalyst family, provide deeper understanding of the design of photocatalysts for overall water splitting. EG=ethylene glycol, TBT=tetra- n -butyl titanate. Metastable-phase porous Zn 2 Ti 3 O 8 nanorods as photocatalysts for overall water splitting, coupled with RuO 2 as co-catalysts, were synthesized by using ethylene glycol as a phase-stabilizing and 1 D structure-directing agent. The typical electronic energy band gap of Zn 2 Ti 3 O 8 was confirmed to be excellent for overall water splitting photocatalysts by theoretical calculations and experimental results. Steady and stoichiometric H 2 and O 2 evolutions were observed, which increased with time. The yields of H 2 and O 2 were near to 4 and 2 μmol h −1 (0.1 g), respectively. The excellent overall water-splitting activities could be attributed to the pure metastable phase of Zn 2 Ti 3 O 8 possessing a suitable band gap and the porous 1 D structure favoring acceleration of the photogenerated charge transportation and separation.