Ti-Si photocatalyst for producing hydrogen synthesized by shock wave

The TiSi2 and Ti5Si3 compounds with different Ti/Si ratios were synthesized by shockinduced reaction arisen from the flyer impact driven by detonation of the main charge of nitromethane. The phase composition and particle morphology of the recovered samples were characterized by XRD and SEM. It is found that TiSi2 is formed while flyer velocity is at 3.37km/s and exhibits certain photocatalytic activity of splitting water into hydrogen compared with the unreacted Ti+Si precursor shocked at 3.07km/s. Consequently, Ti5Si3 synthesized at 3.37km/s has much better photocatalytic activity of splitting water into hydrogen than that of TiSi2 synthesized by shock wave at identical condition. The coupled photocatalyst of Ti5Si3 and Ti8O15 were shocksynthesized by adding oxidant of NH4ClO4(wt.5%) and exhibits superior photocatalytic activity. The experimental results suggest that shock-induced reaction of Ti and Si with different ratios or other reagent may get novel functional materials for photocatalytic or photovoltaic application.