Long-Term Stable Hydrogen Production from Water and Lactic Acid via Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysis in a Porous Microreactor.

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production is significant to overcome challenges like fossil fuel depletion and carbon dioxide emission, but its efficiency is still far below commercialization need. Herein we achieve long-term stable H2 bubbling production from water (H2O) and lactic acid via visible-light-driven photocatalysis in a porous microreactor (PP12) benefit for photocatalyst dispersion, charge separation, mass transfer and dissociation of O-H bonds of H2O. With the widely used platinum/cadmium-sulfide (Pt/CdS) as photocatalyst, PP12 leads to a H2 bubbling production rate of 602.5 mmol h-1 m-2, which is 1000 times higher than that in traditional reactor. Even when amplifying PP12 into a flat-plate reactor with an area as large as 1 m2 and elongating reaction time to 100 h, H2 bubbling production rate still remains at around 600.0 mmol h-1 m-2, offering a great potential for commercialization.