INFLUENCE OF ACID AND CO-CATALYST ON PHOTOCATALYTIC HYDROGEN PRODUCTION

Abstract

In recent years, the use of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas has increased along with the advanced economic activities of developed countries, resulting in urban air pollution, acid rain due to NOX and SOX, acid fog and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as a result global warming issue becomes hot issue for all international organizations. On the other hand, there is an urgent need to introduce new environmentally friendly energy. New clean energy includes renewable energy such as solar power, wind power, geothermal power, ocean, hydropower, and hydrogen energy has been attracting significant attention in recent years. In this work hydrogen production by using different acid solutions and different co-catalysts were successfully achieved. Maximum production was 1767 μmol g-1 when Pd was used and 2229 μmol g-1 when oxalic acid was applied. The mechanism could be attributed to that promotion of hydrogen production on the surface of metal particles (Pd) can be considered. This is because the electrons that have moved to the conduction band move from the top of TiO2 onto the surface of the co-catalyst particles, as a result promotes the reduction reaction and improves the ability to generate hydrogen.