Congratulations to final year PGR Zahid Hussain for his new publication ‘Bimetal-organic framework derived multi-heterostructured TiO2/CuxO/C nanocomposites with superior photocatalytic H2 generation performance’, which was recently published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A (JMCA).
In this work, In-situ formation of p-n heterojunctions between TiO2 and CuxO in heteroatoms-doped carbon nanocomposites and their applications in photocatalytic H2 evolution were demonstrated. One-step pyrolysis of bimetal-organic-frameworks NH2-MIL-125(Ti/Cu) in water steam at 700 ºC forms phasejunction between nitrogen/carbon co-doped anatase and rutile TiO2, accompanied by the formation of CuxO heterostructures. Moreover, p-n heterojunction is also formed between TiO2/CuxO nanoparticles. These multi-heterostructures are embedded in N-containing and hydrophilic carboxyl functionalised carbon. The optimised TiO2/CuxO/C composites absorb more visible light and offer multiple pathways for photoinduced electrons and holes migration. Also, these nanocomposites provide increased active sites for photocatalytic reactions. Without loading expensive noble metals, TiO2/CuxO/C nanocomposites exhibited superior photocatalytic H2 generation activity of 3298 µmol gcat-1 h-1 under UV-Visible light, 40 times higher than commercial TiO2. This work offers a simple approach to fabricate novel photocatalytic nanocomposites for efficient H2 generation.
Zahid’s previous publications include a translation of Carlo Rovelli’s “Seven Brief Lessons on Physics” into Urdu and ‘Surface functionalized N-C-TiO2/C nanocomposites derived from metal-organic framework in water vapour for enhanced photocatalytic H2 generation’ , of which he was lead author, published in Journal of Energy Chemistry.