Comparative Study on The Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Methanol over Cu-, Pd-, Co- and Au-Loaded TiO2

P.P.C Udani,M Rønning

doi:10.2516/ogst/2015025

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen production from a methanol-water solution was investigated in a semi-continuous reactor over different metal-loaded TiO2 catalysts under UltraViolet (UV) light irradiation. The catalysts were mainly prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation method by varying the metal weight ratio in the range of 1-10 wt%. The effects of metal loading and H2 pre-treatment on the photocatalytic activity were investigated. In addition, the activity of the catalysts was also compared with a reference Au-TiO2 catalyst from the World Gold Council (WGC). The photocatalysts were characterized by using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and N2 physisorption before and after the activity measurements. The photocatalytic activity decreased in the order of Pd > Au > Cu > Co in the comparative study of Cu-TiO2 , Co-TiO2 , Au-TiO2 and Pd-TiO2 . Optimum hydrogen evolution was achieved with 5 wt% Pd-TiO2 and 5 wt% Cu-TiO2 .

Highlights

Hydrogen is often regarded as a potential future energy carrier, which can be obtained from methanol via several processes
The photocatalytic activity decreased in the order of Pd > Au > Cu
The photocatalytic activity decreased in the order of Pd > Au > Cu according to the results in the comparative study of Cu-TiO2, Au-TiO2 and Pd-TiO2

Summary

Introduction

Hydrogen is often regarded as a potential future energy carrier, which can be obtained from methanol via several processes. Photocatalytic reforming is an effective approach to produce hydrogen under ambient conditions and using sunlight [1]. In most of the cases listed, TiO2 is the most widely used semiconductor for various photocatalytic applications due to its relatively low cost, abundance, stability and low toxicity. Noble metal-loaded TiO2 has extensively been proved to be a good photocatalyst for hydrogen production, mainly because of its ability to enhance photoproduced electron– hole pair separation and photoinduced reduction processes [4, 11, 12]. Non-precious metal-loaded TiO2 may be cost-effective compared with noble metal-loaded TiO2 since it shows significant photocatalytic activity in hydrogen generation [13, 14]

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Results

Conclusion