CuS, NiS as co-catalyst for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over TiO2

TiO 2 photocatalysts loaded CuS and NiS as co-catalyst were prepared by hydrothermal approach and characterized by XRD , UV–visible DRS , BET, XPS, SEM and TEM. When TiO 2 was loaded MS as co-catalyst, it showed higher photocatalytic activities for splitting water into hydrogen in methanol aqueous solution under 500 W Xe lamp. Among the photocatalysts with various compositions , the maximum evolution of H 2 obtained from 5 wt% CuS – 5 wt% NiS – TiO 2 sample was about 800 μmol h −1 , which was increased up to about twenty-eight times than that of TiO 2 alone. It was proven that CuS, NiS can act as effective dual co-catalysts to enhance the photocatalytic H 2 production activity of TiO 2 .