Enhanced hydrogen production by water splitting using Cu-doped TiO2 film with preferred (001) orientation

•Cu-doped TiO2 film with preferred (001) orientation was successfully fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering.•With the introduction of copper, minor rutile phase appears and the main exposed anatase facets of the film change from (101) to (001) facets.•The H2 production rate of Cu-doped TiO2 film is far higher than that of undoped TiO2 film and even about 67 times higher than that of P25 powder. Cu-doped TiO2 film with preferred (001) orientation was deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. Experimental results show that the preferred orientation of the film can be greatly influenced by the sputtering of copper target during the deposition. With the introduction of copper, minor rutile phase appears and the main exposed anatase facets of the film change from (101) to (001) facets. The H2 production rate of Cu-doped TiO2 film is about 810μmolg−1h−1, which is far higher than that of undoped TiO2 film and even about 67 times higher than that of P25 powder.