Non-high temperature method to synthesize carbon coated TiO2 nano-dendrites for enhanced wide spectrum photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity.

TiO2 is a popular photocatalyst due to its low cost and easy availability. Herein, we for the first time synthesized carbon coated TiO2 nano-dendrites (C-TiO2 NDs) using a simple hydrothermal method without high-temperature sintering, in which citric acid is used as an adjuvant. This unique dendritic structure consisting of a single small hexagonal piece greatly increases the BET specific area (116.386 m2 g-1) and pore size (0.418 cm3 g-1), increasing the photocatalytic active site and facilitate efficient capture of light. Besides, compared with the TiO2 nanobelts (NBs) prepared by sintering method, the surface of C-TiO2 NDs prepared by hydrothermal method with citric acid are coated with carbon layers, which make C-TiO2 NDs exhibit stronger photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance under simulated solar light irradiation due to the presence of carbon coatings promoting electron-hole separation and absorbing NIR light.