Synthesis of the Cu and P-Codoped TiO2 Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Production from Seawater

Photocatalysts can play a vital role in hydrogen production from seawater through the process of photocatalysis, potentially addressing environmental and energy issues by producing green hydrogen. In this study, an efficient Cu and P-codoped TiO 2 photocatalyst was synthesized via the hydrothermal method by adjusting the quantities of phosphoric acid and cupric nitrate trihydrate. The photocatalytic performance of the synthesized photocatalysts was evaluated based on hydrogen production from natural seawater. The best photocatalyst (0.2 CPT) shows the highest photocatalytic activity, producing 993.96 μmol g –1 h –1 of hydrogen. Enhanced photocatalytic performance was attributed to higher absorbance, lower band gap and more efficient electron–hole (e – /h + ) pair separation. Additionally, the photocatalyst exhibited excellent stability, with only a 4.27% decrease in the photocatalytic activity after the fourth cycle. Furthermore, the dosage of the photocatalyst shows significant effects on the hydrogen production rate. Also, density functional theory (DFT) was employed to analyze the synergistic effect of codoping in the TiO 2 lattice, providing deeper insights into the enhanced photocatalytic performance.