Light-driven processes such as photocatalytic environmental remediation and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to produce hydrogen under sunlight are key technologies toward energy sustainability. Despite enormous efforts, a suitable photocatalyst fulfilling all the main requirements such as high photoactivity under visible light, chemical stability, environmental friendliness, and low cost has not been found yet. A promising approach to overcome these limitations is to use hybrid nanostructures showing improved activity and physicochemical properties when compared with single components. Herein, we present a novel photocatalytic nanocomposite system based on titania (TiO 2 ): titania nanorod wrapped with Ni(OH) 2 and Cu(OH) 2 composite carbon nitride (CuNi@g-C 3 N 4 /TiO 2 ). This carefully tuned photoanode nanostructure shows almost one order of magnitude higher photocurrent density compared to unsensitized TiO 2 nanorods for PEC water splitting upon solar-light illumination. The heterostructured g-C 3 N 4 strongly improves visible absorption of light, separation of electrons and holes, and surface catalysis due to the effect of Cu(OH) 2 nanoparticles and Ni(OH) 2 nanosheets, respectively. The improved photoperformance ascribed to the integrative cooperation effect of all the counterparts resulting in a one-dimensional hydrid nanostructured photoanode with improved light absorption, facile charge separation, and efficient surface catalysis toward PEC oxygen evolution. KEYWORDS: TiO 2 nanorods, doped g-C 3 N 4 , nickel hydroxide, copper hydroxide, photoelectrochemical water splitting
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