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Two kinds of branched hydrogenated TiO 2 nanorod arrays, i.e., hydrogenated TiO 2 nanorod supported hydrogenated TiO 2 branch arrays (H-BTNRs) and hydrogenated TiO 2 nanorod supported unhydrogenated TiO 2 branch arrays (B/H-TNRs), have been successfully designed and prepared by a facile approach. Under simulated solar light, the prepared B/H-TNRs have the highest hydrogen evolution rate of 6.65 μmol cm −2 h −1 , which is 4.7 and 2.4 times those of hydrogenated TiO 2 nanorod arrays (H-TNRs) and H-BTNRs, respectively. This study indicates that the heterostructure design of the unhydrogenated TiO 2 branch and hydrogenated TiO 2 nanorod promotes the separation of charge carries on the interface and enhances photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hierarchical Ag NPs with a bimodal size distribution were auto-decorated on the surface of rice-like N-TiO 2 (named h-Ag/N-TiO 2 ) by semiconductor-metal double excitation process under solar light irradiation. The photoinduced growth process of self-assembled h-Ag/N-TiO 2 and its photocatalytic mechanism of photo-splitting ethanol into hydrogen have been discussed in detail. The synthesized h-Ag/N-TiO 2 as a plasmonic photocatalyst for photo-splitting ethanol exhibited a higher hydrogen production rate (4.7 mmol h −1 g −1 ) than Ag NPs universally loaded N-TiO 2 (3.4 mmol h −1 g −1 ) and pure N-TiO 2 (2.1 mmol h −1 g −1 ). This work presents a reversed photo-induced synthesis strategy to design a stable Ag-TiO 2 plasmonic photocatalyst with high photocatalytic efficiency under solar light. A better understanding of this solar light induced self-assembled process for Ag-TiO 2 is crucial in developing metal-semiconductor system for solar energy materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]