Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production of AgMO3 (M = Ta, Nb, V) perovskite materials using CdS and NiO as co-catalysts

Abstract

The synthesis of AgMO3 (M = V, Nb, Ta) perovskite materials by solid state reaction and the additional deposition of CdS and NiO particles as co-catalysts using hydrothermal and impregnation methods, respectively, were performed in order to investigate their photocatalytic activities for hydrogen production. The structural and morphological properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). UV–vis spectroscopy (UV–vis) and physical adsorption analysis by BET method were used for optical and textural properties. The photocatalytic activities for hydrogen production were carried out under UV light in a Na2SO3 aqueous solution. The effect of loading amount and the nature of co-catalyst used is also discussed. The results showed that the electronic band structure of the AgMO3 (M = Ta, Nb, V) perovskite materials and the co-catalysts play an important role in the photocatalytic activity due to their band positions that allow an improvement in the photogenerated charge carrier transfer and in the hydrogen production amount. The best photocatalytic hydrogen production (4645 μmol g−1) was obtained with 5 wt% loading of CdS co-catalyst onto AgTaO3 perovskite compared to AgTaO3 material loaded with 2 wt% of NiO co-catalyst (1847 μmol g−1).