Sacrificial Hydrogen Generation from Formaldehyde with Pt/TiO2 Photocatalyst in Solar Radiation

Abstract

In this work, solar TiO2 photocatalysis was used for sacrificial hydrogen generation from formaldehyde. Platinum was loaded onto a TiO2 photocatalyst by a solar photodeposition method to suppress the electron/hole recombination process. The photocatalyst inside the reactor was irradiated from the top with a solar simulator. Photocatalytic hydrogen generation from formaldehyde was influenced by the solution pH, platinum loading (wt %) on TiO2, catalyst concentration, light intensity, and initial formaldehyde concentration. A Langmuir-type model fitted well with the experimental data, and the values of surface reaction rate constant, k, and the adsorption equilibrium constant, K, are 2.3598 × 10–6 mol min–1 and 17.73 M–1, respectively. Apparent quantum yield (QY) was higher for the UV light-driven hydrogen generation (10.91%) compared to the solar light-driven hydrogen generation (1.24%).