Hydrothermal synthesis, characterization, and photocatalytic performances of Cr incorporated, and Cr and Ti co-incorporated MCM-41 as visible light photocatalysts for water splitting

A series of Cr incorporated, and Cr and Ti co-incorporated MCM-41 photocatalysts were synthesized by hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms and Raman spectra were used to investigate the effects of the incorporated elements on the structure of MCM-41. The experimental results for photocatalytic water splitting under visible light irradiation (λ > 430 nm) demonstrated that the photocatalytic activities of Cr-MCM-41 and Cr-Ti-MCM-41 catalysts for hydrogen production decreased with an increase in the amount of Cr incorporated. Compared with the Cr-MCM-41 which had the same amount of incorporated Cr, the Cr-Ti-MCM-41 exhibited much higher hydrogen evolution activities.