DOI: https://doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.20606

Structure-Dependent Performance of N-Doped TiO2 Nanowires toward Efficient Solar-Driven Hydrogen Production

1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia

2Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Data Analytics, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Surabaya, Indonesia

3Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia

Received: 16 Dec 2025; Revised: 9 Mar 2026; Accepted: 9 Mar 2026; Available online: 11 Mar 2026; Published: 30 Aug 2026.
Editor(s): Istadi Istadi
Open Access Copyright (c) 2026 by Authors, Published by BCREC Publishing Group
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Abstract

This research focuses on enhancing hydrogen production via the photocatalytic method using a TiO2 catalyst with nitrogen doping and morphology modification to improve efficiency. Nitrogen-doped TiO2 nanowires (NTN) were successfully hydrothermally grown on titanium foil to produce thin-film photocatalysts for the visible-light-driven production of hydrogen. Nitrogen incorporation induced bandgap narrowing, from 3.18 eV to 2.85 eV, by introducing N 2p states close to the valence band, thereby increasing visible-light absorption. Structural analyses confirmed the formation of lattice strain and oxygen vacancies associated with substitutional doping, while the one-dimensional nanowire architecture enhanced charge transport and reduced carrier recombination pathways. The optimized N–TiO2 NWs demonstrated the highest hydrogen evolution rate of 2.385 µmol/cm2 under 180 minutes of visible-light irradiation, corresponding to a hydrogen evolution rate of 0.795 µmol/cm²/h, without a noble-metal co-catalyst. A strong correlation is established between nitrogen-induced surface electronic modification and the enhancement of nanowire-driven charge separation. This study presents a recyclable and scalable thin-film photocatalyst design suitable for future solar hydrogen production systems. Copyright © 2026 by Authors, Published by BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

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Keywords: TiO2 nanowires; chitosan; photocatalytic; photoproduction of hydrogen (H2)
Funding: Universitas AndalasI16/UN16.19/PT.01.03/RKI/2024

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Section: Original Research Articles
Language : EN
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