Hierarchical TiO2 spheroids decorated g-C3N4 nanocomposite for solar driven hydrogen production and water depollution

A novel hierarchical TiO2 spheroids embellished with g-C3N4 nanosheets has been successfully developed via thermal condensation process for efficient solar-driven hydrogen evolution and water depollution photocatalyst. The photocatalytic behaviour of the as-prepared nanocomposite is experimented in water splitting and organic pollutant degradation under solar light irradiation. The optimal ratio of TiO2 spheroids with g-C3N4 in the nanocomposite was found to be 1:10 and the resulting composite exhibits excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production of about 286 μmol h−1g−1, which is a factor of 3.4 and 2.3 times higher than that of pure TiO2 and g-C3N4, respectively. The outstanding photocatalytic performance in this composite could be ascribed as an efficient electron-hole pair's separation and interfacial contact between TiO2 spheroids with g-C3N4 nanosheets in the formed TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposite. This work provide new insight for constructing an efficient Z-scheme TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposites for solar light photocatlyst towards solar energy conversion, solar fuels and other environmental applications.