Highly stable CuO incorporated TiO(2) catalyst for photo-catalytic hydrogen production from H(2)O.

A CuO incorporated TiO(2) catalyst was found to be an active photo-catalyst for the reduction of H(2)O under sacrificial conditions. The catalytic activity originates from the photogeneration of excited electrons in the conduction bands of both TiO(2) and CuO resulting in a build-up of excess electrons in the conduction band of CuO. Consequently, the accumulation of excess electrons in CuO causes a negative shift in the Fermi level of CuO. The efficient inter-particle charge transfer leads to a higher catalytic activity and the formation of highly reduced states of TiO(2)/CuO, which are stable even under oxygen saturated condition. Negative shift in the Fermi level of CuO of the catalyst TiO(2)/CuO gains the required over-voltage necessary for efficient water reduction reaction. The function of CuO is to help the charge separation and to act as a water reduction site. The amount of CuO and crystalline structure were found to be crucial for the catalytic activity and the optimum CuO loading was ca. approximately 5-10%(w/w).