Well-Separated Photoinduced Charge Carriers on Hydrogen Production Using NiS2/TiO2 Nanocomposites

Sivagowri Shanmugaratnam; Punniamoorthy Ravirajan; Shivatharsiny Yohi; Dhayalan Velauthapillai

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c08194

Well-Separated Photoinduced Charge Carriers on Hydrogen Production Using NiS₂/TiO₂ Nanocomposites

ACS Omega. 2023 Dec 19;9(1):1627-1633. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c08194. eCollection 2024 Jan 9.

Authors

Sivagowri Shanmugaratnam^{1

2}, Punniamoorthy Ravirajan¹, Shivatharsiny Yohi³, Dhayalan Velauthapillai²

Affiliations

¹ Clean Energy Research Laboratory (CERL), Department of Physics, University of Jaffna, Jaffna 40000, Sri Lanka.
² Faculty of Engineering and Science, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 7030, Bergen 5020, Norway.
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Jaffna, Jaffna 40000, Sri Lanka.

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen production is a sustainable and greenhouse-gas-free method that requires an efficient and abundant photocatalyst, which minimizes energy consumption. Currently, interests in transition metal chalcogenide materials have been utilized in different applications due to their quantum confinement effect and low band gaps. In this study, different wt % of NiS₂-embedded TiO₂ nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method and utilized for photocatalytic hydrogen production under extended solar irradiation. Among the materials studied, the highest amount (4.185 mmol g^-1) of hydrogen production was observed with 15 wt % of the NiS₂/TiO₂ nanocomposite. The highest photocatalytic activity may be due to the well separation of photoinduced charge carriers on the catalyst, which was confirmed by the electrochemical studies. Thus, we believe that these photocatalysts are promising candidates for future applications.