Black TiO2 with various nanostructures and phase constitutions have been reported to exhibit excellent photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance. Here, we report the fabrication of black nanostructured TiO2-B through hydrogen plasma assisted reduction and its enhanced PEC properties for the first time. Both the obtained TiO2-B and black TiO2-B are single crystalline nanowires, while the black TiO2-B samples exhibit much stronger visible and infrared light absorption. The optimal black TiO2-B sample obtained by hydrogen plasma treatment at 425 degrees C yields a photocurrent density of 0.85 mA cm(-2), a rather low onset potential of 0.937 V-Ag/AgCl and a high applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) of 0.363%, which is far superior to the TiO2-B (0.15 mA cm(-2) photocurrent, -0.917 V-Ag/AgCl onset potential and 0.138% ABPE). The significantly enhanced PEC performance of the black TiO2-B is ascribed to the introduction of moderate surface oxygen vacancies. These results indicate that the black TiO2-B is a promising material for PEC application and solar energy utilization. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.