Method and system for constructing CFs/TiO2 nanotexture from recycled carbon fiber- reinforced polymers (CFRPs) for photocatalytic hydrogen production

A method of developing semiconductor photocatalysts by recycling Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) waste, the method comprising the steps of:

• separating or removing a polymer layer of carbon-fibre waste via thermal decomposition under a controlled nitrogen atmosphere at temperatures ranging between 400-700° C. to yield conductive one-dimensional carbon fibers (1D CFs);
• and
• coupling the resulting carbon-fibers as a cocatalyst with titanium dioxide (TiO2) via a sol-gel method comprising dispersing titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) in 2-propanol and hydrolyzing the dispersed TTIP using acetic acid to form a titanium sol, adding the carbon fibres to the titanium sol and stirring for a period to produce a thickened titanium sol, and drying and heating the resulting product to obtain a CFs/TiO2 sol-gel (CFs/TiO2-S) composite having a core-shell structure in which TiO2 nanoparticles are uniformly attached over an entire surface of the carbon fibres;
• and using the CFs/TiO2-S composite for photocatalytic water splitting to produce hydrogen (H2), wherein the TiO2 nanoparticles are spherical, well-distributed, and uniformly sized without agglomeration, and wherein the CFs/TiO2-S composite provides multichannel electron transfer from TiO2 to the carbon fibers for charge carrier separation.