Nanospherical like reduced graphene oxide decorated TiO(2) nanoparticles: an advanced catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Modification of titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) for H(2) generation is a grand challenge due to its high chemical inertness, large bandgap, narrow light-response range and rapid recombination of electrons and holes. Herein, we report a simple process to prepare nanospherical like reduced graphene oxide (NS-rGO) decorated TiO(2) nanoparticles (NS-rGO/TiO(2)) as photocatalysts. This modified TiO(2) sample exhibits remarkably significant improvement on visible light absorption, narrow band gap and efficient charge collection and separation. The photocatalytic H(2) production rate of NS-rGO/TiO(2) is high as 13996 μmol g(−1) h(−1), which exceeds that obtained on TiO(2) alone and TiO(2) with parallel graphene sheets by 3.45 and 3.05 times, respectively. This improvement is due to the presence of NS-rGO as an electron collector and transporter. The geometry of NS-rGO should be effective in the design of a graphene/TiO(2) composite for photocatalytic applications.