The principal aim of this research is to demonstrate the feasibility of the surfactant-assisted templating technique for low-temperature synthesis, of which the energy conservation is able to be conserved, of high photocatalytic activity nanosized metal oxide semiconductor photocatalysts, which is much superior to conventional solid-state reaction approach. For conventional approach, which has generally been used by several research groups, synthesis temperature of photocatalysts is extremely high, normally more than 1,000?C, resulting in possible loss of stoichiometry due to volatilization of the constituent components at high temperatures. The loss consequently results in a decrease in the photocatalytic activity of a given catalyst to a great extent. In photocatalytic activity aspect of water splitting reaction, the nanosized photocatalysts synthesized by this approach in general are high purity and homogeneity. This approach is also considerably suitable for multiple component systems. Moreover, nanosized photocatalysts offer much more concise pathway for facilitating electron transfer to conduction band during light irradiation and then initiate the hydrogen evolution. Hence, the purposes of this research are to investigate the hydrogen evolution via photocatalytic water splitting by using novel nanosized photocatalysts and to study the effects of photocatalyst synthesis and reaction parameters on the hydrogen evolution efficiency.
