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Abstract
In this work, we investigated the role of the crystalline phases of titanium dioxide in the solar photocatalytic H2 production by the reforming of glycerol, focusing the attention on the influence of photodeposited gold, as a metal co-catalyst, on TiO2 surface. We correlated the photocatalytic activity of 1 wt% Au/TiO2 in anatase, rutile, and brookite phases with the structural and optical properties determined by Raman spectroscopy, N2 adsorption–desorption measurements, UV–vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), and Dynamic Light scattering (DLS). The best results (2.55 mmol H2 gcat−1 h−1) were obtained with anatase and gold photodeposited after 30 min of solar irradiation. The good performance of Au/TiO2 in anatase form and the key importance of the strong interaction between gold and the peculiar crystalline phase of TiO2 can be a starting point to efficiently improve photocatalysts design and experimental conditions, in order to favor a green hydrogen production through solar photocatalysis.
Highlights
Nowadays, the transition towards a more carbon-free society is a key point of technological and socio-economic progress
On the basis of the above considerations, in our work, we investigated hydrogen evolution through the photoreforming of glycerol using Au/TiO2 photocatalysts prepared by photodeposition of gold on the three crystalline phases of TiO2
We explored in detail the modifications of the structural and optical properties due to gold photodeposition on the TiO2 phases and how these modifications affected the photocatalytic H2 evolution
Summary
The transition towards a more carbon-free society is a key point of technological and socio-economic progress. The development of new technologies based on renewables is the main road to drive the environmental transition In this context, hydrogen is a promising energy carrier and can be the leading actor of the green innovation [1] until now, hydrogen has been mostly produced in a not sustainable way, namely, through the steam reforming of hydrocarbons, which requires fossil fuels and causes relevant CO2 emissions [2]. Since the pioneering work of Fujishima and Honda in the 1972 [3], scientific research has focused its attention on photocatalytic hydrogen production by water splitting or photoreforming of organic substrates [4,5]. The sustainability of the process strongly depends on the choice of the organic substrates [7]
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